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Which FF is the fastest/smoothest paced?

Posted: 9th August 2016 16:05

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Black Waltz
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Topic title says it all.

IGNORING all other graphical presentation and storyline epicness and relationship speculative fiction...

Which FF game moves the smoothest, fastest, and never feels bogged down?

...It is an interesting question, especially since some of these games now move faster than their previous versions, namely, the PSX trilogy's Steam ports.

I doubt very much I-III will be brought up as good examples. They tend to be ridiculed in fact for the pacing issues they bring to the table.

So it's from IV on up, I would tend to think, where the pacing really started to take a more "move along, slam, bang, whizz, boom" quality. The addition of the ATB to smooth out the battles a bit also lends itself to this.

It could be automatic.

Hydromatic.

WHY IT COULD BE GREASED LIGHTNING!! biggrin.gif

Discuss.

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Posted: 9th August 2016 22:36

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Quote (Spooniest @ 9th August 2016 11:05)
Topic title says it all.

IGNORING all other graphical presentation and storyline epicness and relationship speculative fiction...

Which FF game moves the smoothest, fastest, and never feels bogged down?

...It is an interesting question, especially since some of these games now move faster than their previous versions, namely, the PSX trilogy's Steam ports.

I doubt very much I-III will be brought up as good examples. They tend to be ridiculed in fact for the pacing issues they bring to the table.

So it's from IV on up, I would tend to think, where the pacing really started to take a more "move along, slam, bang, whizz, boom" quality. The addition of the ATB to smooth out the battles a bit also lends itself to this.

It could be automatic.

Hydromatic.

WHY IT COULD BE GREASED LIGHTNING!! biggrin.gif

Discuss.

haha greased lightning comment is win

But I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss FF3j, in it's original format. The game gets right into it and gets going pretty fast and the battle system is more or less a primitive version of ATB.

I'm going to have to say though, I think Final Fantasy 8 is pretty smooth with it's pace. It's the only FF game where you don't need to go and grind before a boss battle and the strategic nuances of the battle system are under-appreciated to this day. Something as simple as junctioning the wrong magic to the wrong stat can make or break you in a Boss battle and Triple Triad as a companion to magic accumulation (Card Mod ability) was brilliant. You literally can just go along the story until disc 3 and not have done a single side-quest.

FF8 is my vote.

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Posted: 10th August 2016 04:39

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I'd have to say it'd be either 4 (not hard type of course), 8, or maybe X-2. None of those ever made me feel I had to grind to beat the game.

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Posted: 10th August 2016 11:27

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Posted: 15th August 2016 05:18

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FF4 has got lots of very quick spell animations, and I tend to praise it for that.

The 2D games in general have shorter animation times for many things -- spell effects, battle swirls, cutscenes, you name it.

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 15th August 2016 05:19

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Posted: 15th August 2016 10:50

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Ff8 has long tutorials though and drags on a lot plus lotsa farming.FF4 is simplistic and fast paced with not much grinding on easy type.

I think probably ff3 jap original game since the game forces you to fight and flat out kills you if you try to run.On to
Of that, by the end of the game you end up over grinding from to running and end up over leveled, so grinding is irrelevant.I actually prefer ff2 over 3 in gameplay because even if it's awful, at least I can build whoever I want as a caster.I had the girl as my melee fighter and one guy and one of my guys was a caster.

This post has been edited by Magitek_slayer on 15th August 2016 10:52

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Posted: 15th August 2016 22:09

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Quote (Magitek_slayer @ 15th August 2016 05:50)
Ff8 has long tutorials though and drags on a lot plus lotsa farming.FF4 is simplistic and fast paced with not much grinding on easy type.

I think probably ff3 jap original game since the game forces you to fight and flat out kills you if you try to run.On to
Of that, by the end of the game you end up over grinding from to running and end up over leveled, so grinding is irrelevant.I actually prefer ff2 over 3 in gameplay because even if it's awful, at least I can build whoever I want as a caster.I had the girl as my melee fighter and one guy and one of my guys was a caster.



You can skip all FF8 tutorials, unlike in most other FF games. Just press the cancel button.

Lot's of farming? Eh. What?

Also, anyone who spams GF in FF8 is absolutely clueless as to how the battle system works in FF8.

It should go something like this:

Junction High HP to 2 party members, one with Card Ability and one with Break magic. Both with Scan. Use Card or Break to end battles.

Junction Squall with lowest HP possible but highest strength possible. KO him ASAP, use Phoenix Down, spam Renzokuken for Boss battles, don't use trigger for regular encounters.

That's about it lol.

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Posted: 30th August 2016 16:37

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Quote (Dynamic Threads @ 15th August 2016 22:09)
Quote (Magitek_slayer @ 15th August 2016 05:50)
Ff8 has long tutorials though and drags on a lot plus lotsa farming.FF4 is simplistic and fast paced with not much grinding on easy type.

I think probably ff3 jap original game since the game forces you to fight and flat out kills you if you try to run.On to
Of that, by the end of the game you end up over grinding from to running and end up over leveled, so grinding is irrelevant.I actually prefer ff2 over 3 in gameplay because even if it's awful, at least I can build whoever I want as a caster.I had the girl as my melee fighter and one guy and one of my guys was a caster.



You can skip all FF8 tutorials, unlike in most other FF games. Just press the cancel button.

Lot's of farming? Eh. What?

Also, anyone who spams GF in FF8 is absolutely clueless as to how the battle system works in FF8.

It should go something like this:

Junction High HP to 2 party members, one with Card Ability and one with Break magic. Both with Scan. Use Card or Break to end battles.

Junction Squall with lowest HP possible but highest strength possible. KO him ASAP, use Phoenix Down, spam Renzokuken for Boss battles, don't use trigger for regular encounters.

That's about it lol.

Even if you card enemies its still farming in another form as spoony said, and there is no way around it.He did make a big mistake though since i remember some stat actually increasing the amount of charges you can steal from mobs.

I actually really like the pace of ff5.I feel like ff5 actually has a balanced and doesnt make you farm a lot till the end.WHat do you guys think?

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Posted: 30th August 2016 21:24

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Cactuar
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Quote (Magitek_slayer @ 30th August 2016 11:37)
Quote (Dynamic Threads @ 15th August 2016 22:09)
Quote (Magitek_slayer @ 15th August 2016 05:50)
Ff8 has long tutorials though and drags on a lot plus lotsa farming.FF4 is simplistic and fast paced with not much grinding on easy type.

I think probably ff3 jap original game since the game forces you to fight and flat out kills you if you try to run.On to
Of that, by the end of the game you end up over grinding from to running and end up over leveled, so grinding is irrelevant.I actually prefer ff2 over 3 in gameplay because even if it's awful, at least I can build whoever I want as a caster.I had the girl as my melee fighter and one guy and one of my guys was a caster.



You can skip all FF8 tutorials, unlike in most other FF games. Just press the cancel button.

Lot's of farming? Eh. What?

Also, anyone who spams GF in FF8 is absolutely clueless as to how the battle system works in FF8.

It should go something like this:

Junction High HP to 2 party members, one with Card Ability and one with Break magic. Both with Scan. Use Card or Break to end battles.

Junction Squall with lowest HP possible but highest strength possible. KO him ASAP, use Phoenix Down, spam Renzokuken for Boss battles, don't use trigger for regular encounters.

That's about it lol.

Even if you card enemies its still farming in another form as spoony said, and there is no way around it.He did make a big mistake though since i remember some stat actually increasing the amount of charges you can steal from mobs.

I actually really like the pace of ff5.I feel like ff5 actually has a balanced and doesnt make you farm a lot till the end.WHat do you guys think?

I think you still fail to see what I'm on about. You never have to "farm" in FF8.

You get the Diablos GF right after your SeeD exam, which is the only spot in the game where you would have to KO Zell and Squall to avoid EXP from forced battles. You cannot card humans, see.

But after you get Diablos, you should learn Enc-Half immediately. I think it's 30AP. Pretty easy after a couple/few boss battles. Then always have that equipped and start learning Enc-None right after. Enc-Half significantly reduces random encounters, especially on the world map.

Card is just an alternative to break for monsters, since you want to break all human enemies to get 0 EXP.

Mind you, this is only for FORCED encounters. You really shouldn't be fighting any random encounters. Just run at first, and like I said, Enc-Half already reduces random encounters significantly.

Honestly, you have Card already by the time you get Diablos and you fight Fastitocalon on the beaches of Balamb in groups of 2 using Card. They give 3 AP each. So that's 6 AP per battle. You need only 5 encounters with them to learn Enc-Half and that takes MAXIMUM half an hour. Boom. Done with grinding. All other AP is from Bosses or Break in forced battles.

Then just play the game. Easy. You should beat it in like 30 hours tops.

EDIT: I forgot to mention, you shouldn't ever level up in FF8. Or at MOST don't go past Lv. 20. That is the secret to it's battle system. You have a something like 10% chance of getting a rare card instead of the generic monster card from enemies so you just refine magic from carded enemies and Triple Triad with Card-Mod and junction the refined magic. FF8 actually has a brilliant battle system that punishes the player for grinding.

This post has been edited by Dynamic Threads on 30th August 2016 21:32

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Posted: 31st August 2016 08:59

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Quote (Dynamic Threads @ 30th August 2016 21:24)
Quote (Magitek_slayer @ 30th August 2016 11:37)
Quote (Dynamic Threads @ 15th August 2016 22:09)
Quote (Magitek_slayer @ 15th August 2016 05:50)
Ff8 has long tutorials though and drags on a lot plus lotsa farming.FF4 is simplistic and fast paced with not much grinding on easy type.

I think probably ff3 jap original game since the game forces you to fight and flat out kills you if you try to run.On to
Of that, by the end of the game you end up over grinding from to running and end up over leveled, so grinding is irrelevant.I actually prefer ff2 over 3 in gameplay because even if it's awful, at least I can build whoever I want as a caster.I had the girl as my melee fighter and one guy and one of my guys was a caster.



You can skip all FF8 tutorials, unlike in most other FF games. Just press the cancel button.

Lot's of farming? Eh. What?

Also, anyone who spams GF in FF8 is absolutely clueless as to how the battle system works in FF8.

It should go something like this:

Junction High HP to 2 party members, one with Card Ability and one with Break magic. Both with Scan. Use Card or Break to end battles.

Junction Squall with lowest HP possible but highest strength possible. KO him ASAP, use Phoenix Down, spam Renzokuken for Boss battles, don't use trigger for regular encounters.

That's about it lol.

Even if you card enemies its still farming in another form as spoony said, and there is no way around it.He did make a big mistake though since i remember some stat actually increasing the amount of charges you can steal from mobs.

I actually really like the pace of ff5.I feel like ff5 actually has a balanced and doesnt make you farm a lot till the end.WHat do you guys think?

I think you still fail to see what I'm on about. You never have to "farm" in FF8.

You get the Diablos GF right after your SeeD exam, which is the only spot in the game where you would have to KO Zell and Squall to avoid EXP from forced battles. You cannot card humans, see.

But after you get Diablos, you should learn Enc-Half immediately. I think it's 30AP. Pretty easy after a couple/few boss battles. Then always have that equipped and start learning Enc-None right after. Enc-Half significantly reduces random encounters, especially on the world map.

Card is just an alternative to break for monsters, since you want to break all human enemies to get 0 EXP.

Mind you, this is only for FORCED encounters. You really shouldn't be fighting any random encounters. Just run at first, and like I said, Enc-Half already reduces random encounters significantly.

Honestly, you have Card already by the time you get Diablos and you fight Fastitocalon on the beaches of Balamb in groups of 2 using Card. They give 3 AP each. So that's 6 AP per battle. You need only 5 encounters with them to learn Enc-Half and that takes MAXIMUM half an hour. Boom. Done with grinding. All other AP is from Bosses or Break in forced battles.

Then just play the game. Easy. You should beat it in like 30 hours tops.

EDIT: I forgot to mention, you shouldn't ever level up in FF8. Or at MOST don't go past Lv. 20. That is the secret to it's battle system. You have a something like 10% chance of getting a rare card instead of the generic monster card from enemies so you just refine magic from carded enemies and Triple Triad with Card-Mod and junction the refined magic. FF8 actually has a brilliant battle system that punishes the player for grinding.

You still have to grind to level and get spells stacked for stats hence grinding and unless you know which spells are good(I do) you will have a lackluster party with bad stats.Stats mean everything and spells give you stats.Believe me, I beat the game.Im not saying it's not beatable unless you do the card queen, no that is just extra.What I am saying is you will still have to card a lot of enemies for those much needed spells.

Curaga for an example you still need that ability which turns items into spells early on for that to abuse it.

And as for level:I think I was level 13 to 14.

Talking about it makes me feel like seeing how far i can get in FF8 without the card trading game.

There is also a super easy way guaranteed to not over level:

Playing as seifer at the beginning you can level him up while getting ap for gfs and then later wait till Edea is in group kill everyone but Edea and let her level your gfs easy you don't over level.

This post has been edited by Magitek_slayer on 31st August 2016 22:34

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Posted: 1st September 2016 01:47

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Oh my god dude lol

You don't level up in FF8 and you don't have to grind to get spells. Of course, enemies carry better spells at higher levels but you avoid this completely by a few Triple Triad games against strong opponents. Wizard Stones and Magic Stones refine into Curaga and Cura respectively (or any other magic with refine magic abilities), your GFs learn abilities that improve your stats by 20%, 40%, and 60% and every character or GF card mods into fantastic items. You don't even need to do Queen of Cards sidequest.

You can literally have no magic junctioned at all to characters as long as you do a no-level playthrough. And to do a no level run of the game you even said yourself, KO Squall and Zell during the SeeD exam and have just Seifer fight enemies in forced encounters. But unless you want a perfect SeeD exam score, you don't need to grind at all. And unless you have a hard on for the Lionheart, you don't need Ifrit to level up to Lv. 10 for his Ammo-R ability to get pulse ammo from Elnoyle cards.

I suppose in essence, battle-grinding in FF8 was/is/can be replaced with the Triple Triad so essentially, if you avoid leveling up and favor Triple Triad for magic refining, you are still grinding in a way but as soon as you get the Diff trade rule, you'll be getting up to 4 cards from each win in TT. There are a few characters that always carry high level moster and boss cards such as Headmaster Martine from Galbadia Garden in Fisherman's Horizon.

You literally can avoid all random encounters from Disc 2 onward and just play the story, some card games and sidequests.

Edit: Okay so for example, at the start of the game, you won't be finding Break very easy. That's why you use Card and play Triple Triad.

After the SeeD exam you should have gained the Siren GF. You learn ST-Mag-RF ability first. Then you can refine Break spells from either Soft = x3 Break or Cockatrice Pinion = x20 break. Cockatrice cards are a dime a dozen and I think 3 of them refine into 1 Cockatrice Pinion. Students all over Balamb Garden play Triple Triad and several of them use Cockatrice regularly. You already have the Card ability, so sure, at this point, you have to "grind" a little in the training center to get the ST-Mag-RF ability right away but T-Rexaur gives like 10 AP per battle and is one of the easiest Monsters to Card in the game due to it's high HP even at low levels. Like I said, spam Renzokuken, cast Scan a few times and then use a couple Demi spells for good measure. Then just Card it. Three T-Rexaur battles and you have the ability. Refine Break, have one character with Card, one with Break and the other is Squall who should be your Tank. Again, this should have taken a half an hour TOPS.

So to get Enc-None, Break magic and Card ability takes about an hour of "grinding". To me, that isn't grinding. You've spent 1 hour on Disc 1 to ensure you don't have to grind the rest of the game. Every now and then, you play Triple Triad to replenish magic or just Draw from Bosses, who almost always have at least 1 mid-to-high level spell. With a high Magic stat, you should be drawing between 4 and 9 spells at a time.

This post has been edited by Dynamic Threads on 1st September 2016 02:02

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Posted: 1st September 2016 15:51

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Oh my god dude lol

You don't level up in FF8 and you don't have to grind to get spells. Of course, enemies carry better spells at higher levels but you avoid this completely by a few Triple Triad games against strong opponents. Wizard Stones and Magic Stones refine into Curaga and Cura respectively (or any other magic with refine magic abilities), your GFs learn abilities that improve your stats by 20%, 40%, and 60% and every character or GF card mods into fantastic items. You don't even need to do Queen of Cards sidequest.

You can literally have no magic junctioned at all to characters as long as you do a no-level playthrough. And to do a no level run of the game you even said yourself, KO Squall and Zell during the SeeD exam and have just Seifer fight enemies in forced encounters. But unless you want a perfect SeeD exam score, you don't need to grind at all. And unless you have a hard on for the Lionheart, you don't need Ifrit to level up to Lv. 10 for his Ammo-R ability to get pulse ammo from Elnoyle cards.

I suppose in essence, battle-grinding in FF8 was/is/can be replaced with the Triple Triad so essentially, if you avoid leveling up and favor Triple Triad for magic refining, you are still grinding in a way but as soon as you get the Diff trade rule, you'll be getting up to 4 cards from each win in TT. There are a few characters that always carry high level moster and boss cards such as Headmaster Martine from Galbadia Garden in Fisherman's Horizon.

You literally can avoid all random encounters from Disc 2 onward and just play the story, some card games and sidequests.

Edit: Okay so for example, at the start of the game, you won't be finding Break very easy. That's why you use Card and play Triple Triad.

After the SeeD exam you should have gained the Siren GF. You learn ST-Mag-RF ability first. Then you can refine Break spells from either Soft = x3 Break or Cockatrice Pinion = x20 break. Cockatrice cards are a dime a dozen and I think 3 of them refine into 1 Cockatrice Pinion. Students all over Balamb Garden play Triple Triad and several of them use Cockatrice regularly. You already have the Card ability, so sure, at this point, you have to "grind" a little in the training center to get the ST-Mag-RF ability right away but T-Rexaur gives like 10 AP per battle and is one of the easiest Monsters to Card in the game due to it's high HP even at low levels. Like I said, spam Renzokuken, cast Scan a few times and then use a couple Demi spells for good measure. Then just Card it. Three T-Rexaur battles and you have the ability. Refine Break, have one character with Card, one with Break and the other is Squall who should be your Tank. Again, this should have taken a half an hour TOPS.

My answer:I know i am not saying its impossible i have beaten this game actually.
I am just saying you gotta grind anyways one way or another for spells to stack.
Actually I want to take some time to answer this a bit:If you grind enough you can get aero too for str and maybe thundaga and firaga but i think that actually comes later on if im correct.

So to get Enc-None, Break magic and Card ability takes about an hour of "grinding". To me, that isn't grinding. You've spent 1 hour on Disc 1 to ensure you don't have to grind the rest of the game. Every now and then, you play Triple Triad to replenish magic or just Draw from Bosses, who almost always have at least 1 mid-to-high level spell. With a high Magic stat, you should be drawing between 4 and 9 spells at a time.

Me:With around 29 spirit and 33 magic on seifer i get 9 magic from drawing most of the time and a lot of times 8.

frozen_josh 8 years ago#2
Requirements: Carbuncle GF, with Recov Med-RF ability learned, 4000 starting gil (preferably more, though there's no reaon really why you wouldn't). Tonberry GF with Call Shop, Haggle and Sell-High will help speed this up considerably, although is not strictly needed.

Basically what you want to do is buy Tents (ideally 100, but if you're just getting started, 4 is the minimum you need), Recov Med-RF them into Mega-Potions (4:1), sell (at a profit), repeat.

Like I said before, this is far more profitable once you get Tonberry and learn Haggle and Sell-High (and it's also faster with Call Shop since you can do it all from the menu), and more profitable still once you can do this with Tents *and* Cottages (same deal, use Recov Med-RF to turn them into Mega-Potions, at 2:1 ratio here), although that's only for late disc 3 using "Esthar Shop!!!".

Profit received is as such:
100 Tents: 25,000 gil net profit
100 Tents w/ Haggle & Sell-High: 112,500 gil net profit
100 Tents and 100 Cottages w/ Haggle & Sell-High: 352,500 gil net profit

(With Call Shop each repeat take about 20-30 seconds once you get the hang of it)
"Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool"

So actually the seed level doesnt make any difference because i am going to be getting toneberry and not bothered too much with seed level since i will be rushing this game.

This post has been edited by Magitek_slayer on 1st September 2016 15:54

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Posted: 1st September 2016 23:09

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Okay, I wasn't really on about SeeD level and honestly, Gil isn't important at all in this game. I rarely if ever found myself short on Gil.

It's great that you've beaten the game in your own ways but you do not need to grind to get spells to stack. Card-Mod is literally all you need. When you're low on spells, you just play a few Triple Triad games and you refine Cards into items that refine into Magic. That's. It. You only need to Draw from Bosses for unique mid to high level magic. And grinding isn't needed for that since they always carry at least 1 good spell.

But with Card-Mod, you can have 100 Blizzaga, Firaga, Thundaga, Curaga, Aero, Demi, Haste, Break, Bio, Quake and Water all before the end of Disc 1. You can have them all as early as your first SeeD Mission. You are not correct in thinking these spells come later in the game.

You again, do not need to grind for spells, actually you only need to grind for AP but again, Bosses give out high amounts of AP and no Exp as it is. T-Rexaur and Grat are the only monsters in the Balamb training center and T-Rexaur gives out 10 AP. Use Card or Break to avoid Exp. Refine Dino Bones into Quake. Junction Quake to Str stat. Done.

Enemies level up as you level up, FF8 is unique in that regard. So if you never level up, neither does the enemy and this includes bosses. So your stats do not need to be increased much at all.

Quistis learns some fantastic Blue Magic for her Limit Break, most of all Degenerator which instantly kills most enemies.

Squall's Renzokuken hits the enemy at least 4 times and with trigger you always get a critical hit. With the finisher you get an even stronger blow to end his Limit.

Selphie learns "The End" limit break and at low levels with extremely low HP and with high Luck, she gets it pretty often. "The End" eliminates even the Omega Weapon in one hit.

Zell's rush technique also hits a minimum of 4 times usually. You also get his finishers regularly once you learn the right combos.

Once you learn Str-20%, Str-40% and Str-60%, you don't even need to junction high level magic at all. But you shouldn't have any issues getting it in the first place.

This post has been edited by Dynamic Threads on 1st September 2016 23:12

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Posted: 2nd September 2016 05:23

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Dynamic:

Playing Triple Triad games isn't the treat to everyone that it is to you. I don't like playing cards, period. I like fighting random encounters, it just feels like Final Fantasy that way to me. I also enjoy skipping them (particularly in FF6 when I'm treasure hunting), but I don't usually play with any kind of reduction in randoms.

To me, the question of how well-paced FF8 is comes down to this; can a person just blindly skip through shit and get far in the game? I have the answer, because that is what I did. When I first played it, on the PSX, back when it came out, I just played through, really didn't get the junction system, and didn't care, didn't have a strategy guide, totally skipped playing cards, really only cared about upgrading my weapons, and didn't get past the boss fight with Rinoa/Adel at the end of Disc 3.

But, that is very far to get, all the way to the end of Disc 3, without having done anything extra except moved on with the story. I think both of you, Magitek and Dynamic, have over thought how to get on with the game. You can refine magic from magic stone pieces just as easily as cards, as well as many other items, even consumables you can buy from shops can be converted into powerful curative magic.

Mid-Mag RF is great for powering up those spells you refined from items, and mid-level magic and an understanding of the junction system in general probably would have gotten me into Disc 4 as a kid. I would have been screwed in Ultimecia's Castle, but that's not the point.

FF8 is very very well paced, but not so forgiving as to just be trounced over without thinking. However, there are other pacing problems I don't think you guys have touched on with all this talk merely of the nuts and bolts of the gameplay.

FF8 has some seriously long spell and summon animations, and the limit breaks are no different. In addition, it originally came out on the PSX, and that version had horrendous CD load times common in that era.

Think about it this way...not how many seconds go by between battle swirl and command input functionality, but how fast does it feel?

Final Fantasy 6's battle swirl is always less than 1 second long, and while the way the battles start is a little more drawn out than 1-5 (characters perform a short, unique animation at the start of battle), I've always felt that the particular tone of the music combined with how incredibly fast the monsters then "zip" into the frame gave the battles a kind of "pitched" feel that no other FF game has yet replicated.

FF1-3's battle intros are clunky, at best. The battle flash happens, then the screen clicks to black, the borders of the windows are drawn on the screen and the words display, and you are asked to input a command, unless you've been ambushed. You could change how long each battle message would display, but it all feels kind of slipshod, next to...

FF4's battle intros fade up from black smoothly, in a way the NES wouldn't have usually been capable of. The screen starts out as a bunch of giant squares, that then get smaller and smaller until they are "materialized" into the pixel art that makes up the sprites, backgrounds and I think the menus too. The smooth feel of the synth strings sweeping up in an Arabian-like scale that drops into a familiar two-note bassline compliments this effect much better at 32000 hz. Really, the SNES was the point at which the FF games stepped on the freaking gas pedal hard.

FF5 is strange in that it eschews the battle intro animation in favor of simplicity. It's kind of slight, to be honest, and repeating the rising string arrangement from Zeromus' Battle Theme in FF4 just for a random battle feels a little less than epic. For these reasons, I've always thought of FF5 as a tad more "straightforward" or "mechanical" than 4 or 6 are, which are more about feel.

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Posted: 2nd September 2016 07:17

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Spooniest for me:Ff7 has a faster pace than ff8, because you don't have to really grind at all and can pretty much rush a lot as long as you play with materia equipped.It isn't until the end where you grind for real.

I felt the pacing was good in ff7.

And your right about the long animation, says as knights of the round which is also unskippable.

I have been grinding with seifer for 3 days on all 3 gfs cause I'm ocd about being op.i just can't help myself.

Ok which version has better loading times? The steam version?

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Posted: 3rd September 2016 01:11

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Well, the question at hand was what game is fastest paced, not how you play the game.

Either way, you absolutely can blow through FF8 with no problems like you said, Spoony but in all Final Fantasy games you will reach a point where you might have to go to a previous save and prep for a boss battle a little better.

But just because you play using the ridiculously animated Summons in Final Fantasy 8 doesn't change anything. I can't even tell you the last time I even used a summon in FF8 and I play the game at least once a year start to finish. The only reason to have the GF in FF8 is for the Junction system and whether you understand it or not doesn't matter.

Enemies level up as you do in FF8, hence, just playing the story-line and running from most, if not all random encounters allows you to blow through the game. You Draw magic from bosses, refine it from items, or play Triple Triad like I do and Card Mod.

I don't think any other Final Fantasy allows you to blow through the game without constant grinding. Except maybe Final Fantasy X now that I think of it.

I have not overthought how to get on with FF8, since I've played through it a couple dozen times or more. It allows the most variety in your approach out of any of the games minus maybe FF5 with the job system. I just know the battle system through and through and it's brilliant.

But I also disagree that FF7 is faster paced. I got obliterated several times by bosses in FF7 without a couple hours of grinding beforehand. Christ, I even got blown up by some random encounters in that game. The Materia system is great, but very nuanced.

But let's say for example, we've all mastered and played through each Final Fantasy several times. Knowing the battle systems like the back of your hand, I don't think you could argue aginst Final Fantasy 8 as the fastest paced since you'd realize the easiest way to play it is to do a low-level run (notice I didn't say NO level run, that's actually hard). If you run from most battles, skip GF summons, spam Limit Breaks and skip all sidequests, you learn a few GF abilities like Enc-Half along the way and you can easily blow through the game, still stock enough Magic to improve your stats with Junction and not have any problems with the story battles.

It's very clear on what to do and where to go next. I even played through FF7 a while back and got lost several times on where to go next. FF9 requires several spots where you have to grind for a few hours to advance, FF4 was very hard IMO, FF5 I honestly cannot get past a few hours in still to this day, FF6 is EPIC and HARD, and FF1-3 are directionless at times. I haven't played anything past Final Fantasy XII and I thought that game was a mess. I've heard the cut-scenes in FFXIII and the sequels were beyond long and Summon animations in FF7 are only slightly shorter than the ones in FF8.

So knowing the battle system in FF8 like I do (about as close to mastering it as you can get), I know I can blow through the game and have blown through the game in just under 20 hours. And most speed runs of the game clock in at about 8 hours..

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Posted: 4th September 2016 07:47

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Quote (Dynamic Threads @ 3rd September 2016 01:11)
But let's say for example, we've all mastered and played through each Final Fantasy several times.

"Lets proceed on my terms because they suit my argument."

The thing is, that's a qualifier. The general assumption on "which game is fast paced" is surely based on a fresh play, or the average player.

Not, " which game is faster paced if one knows the systems in and out. "

According to what you've said, FF8 CAN be faster paced if you have encyclopaedic knowledge of the game, which the majority of players do not.
I beat FF8 for the first time earlier this year and i still struggle to see what the hell you're on about.

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Posted: 4th September 2016 10:52

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Quote (Dynamic Threads @ 2nd September 2016 20:11)
But let's say for example, we've all mastered and played through each Final Fantasy several times.



You say this...

Quote
FF5 I honestly cannot get past a few hours in still to this day, FF6 is EPIC and HARD, and FF1-3 are directionless at times. I haven't played anything past Final Fantasy XII...


...Yet you cannot support that condition through your own admitted actions.

Also, this is more of a point of order, but you seem entirely to have missed a word in the subject line, when I hear you say...

Quote

most speed runs of the game clock in at about 8 hours..


You started your post with a comment about mere speed as well. The subject line was "Fastest/Smoothest Paced." I'm not saying "You're full of shit, shut up," I'm merely attempting to illustrate that there is a depth to the subject that you are only considering 50% of. Not just "how long does it take to get through," but "does it feel like a rollercoaster ride or a sea cruise?"

Also, maybe this is obvious about how I'm talking about it, maybe not, but the pace of the game should not be considered automatically to be an indicator of its relative quality. Pace is only one aspect. A game can be questionably paced, and yet an enjoyable classic, and conversely, can be fast-paced, even frenetic, and be unfun/uninteresting. "Fast/Smooth Pace" does not necessarily equal a good game.

I wanted to say that Final Fantasy Tactics can be a little herky jerky with its pacing, as it takes time to begin to understand the ins and outs of the job system, especially if you aren't using a guide. But once you've picked up enough from the massive amount of tutorial text included in the game, you can sort of trot along at a decent clip through the story, which is a thankful thing, because the story is brain blisteringly hard to follow at times.

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Posted: 4th September 2016 12:49

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Quote (Spooniest @ 4th September 2016 10:52)
Quote (Dynamic Threads @ 2nd September 2016 20:11)
But let's say for example, we've all mastered and played through each Final Fantasy several times.



You say this...

Quote
FF5 I honestly cannot get past a few hours in still to this day, FF6 is EPIC and HARD, and FF1-3 are directionless at times. I haven't played anything past Final Fantasy XII...


...Yet you cannot support that condition through your own admitted actions.

Also, this is more of a point of order, but you seem entirely to have missed a word in the subject line, when I hear you say...

Quote

most speed runs of the game clock in at about 8 hours..


You started your post with a comment about mere speed as well. The subject line was "Fastest/Smoothest Paced." I'm not saying "You're full of shit, shut up," I'm merely attempting to illustrate that there is a depth to the subject that you are only considering 50% of. Not just "how long does it take to get through," but "does it feel like a rollercoaster ride or a sea cruise?"

Also, maybe this is obvious about how I'm talking about it, maybe not, but the pace of the game should not be considered automatically to be an indicator of its relative quality. Pace is only one aspect. A game can be questionably paced, and yet an enjoyable classic, and conversely, can be fast-paced, even frenetic, and be unfun/uninteresting. "Fast/Smooth Pace" does not necessarily equal a good game.

I wanted to say that Final Fantasy Tactics can be a little herky jerky with its pacing, as it takes time to begin to understand the ins and outs of the job system, especially if you aren't using a guide. But once you've picked up enough from the massive amount of tutorial text included in the game, you can sort of trot along at a decent clip through the story, which is a thankful thing, because the story is brain blisteringly hard to follow at times.

Spooniest in ff tactics when i was at the time where i first encountered dragoons, i felt the pace slowed down and the game became very very hard.The reason as you said is because i didn't fully understand what is the best class what is the best items etc or much about stealing, so i died repeatedly to dragoons with black mages.For a short time, i was able to get through with fire3 ice3 bolt3 fire ice bolt4.Even the summoners started destroying me for a short time.

Honestly:The game is pretty brutal and unforgiving to those who dont fully understand the game, and the pace feels pretty slow but i feel like the game has enough interesting things to keep me interested.

ff6 pacing is kinda different since things happen pretty slow there is a lot of talking but i feel the pace picks up.I feel most grinding in ff6 is minimal.In fact:the mini games dont even take long, but maybe that is because it is just an old game and you can blitz through the game pretty fast.Even things like gau rages aren't necessary and the dances arent either, but i feel like you will have to grind a little bit to beat kefka.

The reason i think ff7 is so fast paced, is that with minimal grinding i was able to absolutely destroy most things fairly ease.I wasnt running away, i was merely just walking.I did do a little bit of grinding but i felt like it wasnt that much grinding.Also:If you are even half decent at materia system you can absolutely blow up any regular enemy and boss in this game easily.

This post has been edited by Magitek_slayer on 4th September 2016 12:53

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Post #211347
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Posted: 4th September 2016 17:59

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Quote (Blinge Odonata @ 4th September 2016 02:47)
Quote (Dynamic Threads @ 3rd September 2016 01:11)
But let's say for example, we've all mastered and played through each Final Fantasy several times.

"Lets proceed on my terms because they suit my argument."

The thing is, that's a qualifier. The general assumption on "which game is fast paced" is surely based on a fresh play, or the average player.

Not, " which game is faster paced if one knows the systems in and out. "

According to what you've said, FF8 CAN be faster paced if you have encyclopaedic knowledge of the game, which the majority of players do not.
I beat FF8 for the first time earlier this year and i still struggle to see what the hell you're on about.


@ the bolded part not really but whatever. You tell me that then assume that asking which game is fastest paced means based on a fresh play?

I only made that statement because on a forum dedicated to FINAL FANTASY I would not be an idiot to assume we've all played at least a few of them several times.

Anyway.

I've been playing Final Fantasy X lately and just noticed I'm 30 hours into it and honestly thought I was at about half that.

So if we're going by, like you guys are saying "Pick up and play the game" then I'd be led to believe this is what you mean. The game is very smooth in it's pace. FFXII was similar in this regard.

And @ Spoony: I wasn't making a condition. I was just spit-balling. I never said my word was gospel.


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Post #211351
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Posted: 5th September 2016 10:28

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The point i'm really making DT is you seem to know FF8 better than most of the world. you're in the top 1 percentile.

If that sort of knowledge is required to make the game fast paced, then meh. Just meh.

For my part, I ruined the game for myself by failing to understand the systems. I missed one key element: I didn't realise you improved junction effect by drawing more of the same spell. I must've started the game late at night, or just got tired of the tutorials explaining abstract concepts with no practical application, a huge load of information dropped on you at the very beginning with no real context.

I was in the huge hi tech city before I realised my error.

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Posted: 5th September 2016 15:01

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Meanwhile, I feel turned off by highly complicated skill acquisition systems.

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Posted: 5th September 2016 15:25

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Quote (Blinge Odonata @ 5th September 2016 05:28)
The point i'm really making DT is you seem to know FF8 better than most of the world. you're in the top 1 percentile.

If that sort of knowledge is required to make the game fast paced, then meh. Just meh.

For my part, I ruined the game for myself by failing to understand the systems. I missed one key element: I didn't realise you improved junction effect by drawing more of the same spell. I must've started the game late at night, or just got tired of the tutorials explaining abstract concepts with no practical application, a huge load of information dropped on you at the very beginning with no real context.

I was in the huge hi tech city before I realised my error.


I get you.

I guess I have this insane habit of getting 3/4ths of the way into a game and just starting over. I do this with most games I play, including every Final Fantasy. So, I haven't beaten a few of them because of it. I especially do this in Pokemon.

I guess it's a way of preserving the game for me.

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Posted: 5th September 2016 16:24

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Quote (Blinge Odonata @ 5th September 2016 10:28)
The point i'm really making DT is you seem to know FF8 better than most of the world. you're in the top 1 percentile.

If that sort of knowledge is required to make the game fast paced, then meh. Just meh.

For my part, I ruined the game for myself by failing to understand the systems. I missed one key element: I didn't realise you improved junction effect by drawing more of the same spell. I must've started the game late at night, or just got tired of the tutorials explaining abstract concepts with no practical application, a huge load of information dropped on you at the very beginning with no real context.

I was in the huge hi tech city before I realised my error.

I cant remember which stat i think it was spirit.Having higher spirit means more spells that you can take from monsters.

Yeah i think there is too many tutorials in this game and its a royal pain.Getting used to it and learning the game is tough the first time though because getting used to all the tutorials and the training wheels are on.Complexity isnt the issue, rather that the game kind of drops the ball in that The way it plays forces you to grind a little and if you over grind the game becomes a bore fest, especially if you are ridiculously overpowered.Take curaga for an example after beating the exam.Seriously you can become so overpowered that you can dominate everything without a fuss.Get curaga for health and you got 3k health andk put 100 aeros breaks or whatever and your mega op with really high strength.

I think its also a good thing to point out that not being able to cast spells should be considered a flaw too.Why cast magic when you can just melee enemies to death? get 100 of the right stuff put on a bunch of different negative stats like sleep and poison or break, and you can win a bunch of stuff.The game is even easier than ff7 is if you understand how to play.In fact its so much worse in how broken easy it is:Get all the cards which isnt hard just tedious, and go get the immunity potion item at the end use it when fighting ultima weapon and BOOM you are invincible and you can spam aura IWIN!!! or use selphies the end.Seriously its so ridiculous how easy this game can be broken.I think the only reason people play is because they enjoy breaking the game and 1 shotting everything.

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Post #211358
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Posted: 15th November 2016 13:28

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For me, probably FF5, but FF7 and FFT are pretty smooth too.

I know you guys are talking about FF8 so much, but I don't find it fast-paced. All the time and brain power I had to put into devising a way to avoid leveling up bogs the feeling down for me. I think the long explanations and debates we're having are a testament to how much is standing in the way between me and just playing through the game.

For FF5, I find myself excitedly stealing away to level up just because I want to, instead of preparing for a boss or whatever. The simple story also makes it feel really easy to grasp the plot and just get back to playing.

7 and Tactics have more serious stories, but they seem to advance so fast that I feel incentivize to keep playing for hours and hours.

I'm guessing that a lot of people see fast/smooth as meaning no grinding, but I think a game that requires grinding can still feel smoother than a game that doesn't.

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