Final Fantasy I-VI Pixel Remaster Series

Grizzlebeard

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What I seem to be getting from this thread is buy 6 or 5 and ignore the others, at least for now.

How did you all play these originally? Were they released on SNES or Jap-onry imports?
 
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Siliconemelons

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What I seem to be getting from this thread is buy 6 or 5 and ignore the others, at least for now.

How did you all play these originally? Were they released on SNES or Jap-onry imports?


If your buying 5 and 6, you may as well also get 4...by then just buy the bundle.

I first played FF5 as a translated Rom Hack, I did not get very far- I then got the PS1 collection, that is where I first played the "real" FF2 and 5, again I did not get far in 5. I first played the real 3 "for reals" in the 3DS port- but I did play it for like 10min on some hacked translation rom many moons ago.
 
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Chris

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What I seem to be getting from this thread is buy 6 or 5 and ignore the others, at least for now.

How did you all play these originally? Were they released on SNES or Jap-onry imports?
In Europe FF6 was only released on PS1 at some time after FF7 and maybe FF8. So played it as a teenager. The SNES version was never available here.

FF5 I played a fan translated romhack at university because I don't think it had an English version yet.

This was back when for some reason the US was getting the games 6-12 months late and Europe another 6-12 months late. I remember getting a US version of one of the Pokemon games as late as 2006 because the DS wasn't region locked.
 

Grizzlebeard

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In Europe FF6 was only released on PS1 at some time after FF7 and maybe FF8. So played it as a teenager. The SNES version was never available here.

FF5 I played a fan translated romhack at university because I don't think it had an English version yet.

This was back when for some reason the US was getting the games 6-12 months late and Europe another 6-12 months late. I remember getting a US version of one of the Pokemon games as late as 2006 because the DS wasn't region locked.

Yeah, I thought I didn't see them in the UK. By the time they did release over here I was absorbed with EQ.

Saying that, I remember playing FFXI from the NA launch, which presented its own problems in a heavily party-required game for a Brit falling between JP and NA timezones, and that released in Japan May 2002, NA launch in October or November 2003, and then eventually Europe in September 2004.
 

Juvarisx

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9 had the best setting IMO. The combat was pretty boring tho.

It suffered because it took the PS1 beyond its limits. Playing it modded on PC can really crank up the battle speed including the "intro" of the enemies appearing and its A LOT better.
 

Chris

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Yeah, I thought I didn't see them in the UK. By the time they did release over here I was absorbed with EQ.

Saying that, I remember playing FFXI from the NA launch, which presented its own problems in a heavily party-required game for a Brit falling between JP and NA timezones, and that released in Japan May 2002, NA launch in October or November 2003, and then eventually Europe in September 2004.
I must have played FF11 in 2004 then, fucking hell I needed so many passwords for playonline and the game sucked. All my friends quit a few weeks in.

WoW was not long after and we were obsessed for a good few years after.

I feel obligated to finish FF11 since I only have that and FF15 on my not completed list now.
 

Rajaah

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FF4 is coming along nicely - I am scooting along- trying to think of the places I had issues when I was a kid, and they are all mostly the same. The baron royal guard guy always caused me a fit, as did the stupid dolls in the dwarf castle. After that I only recall the wall being an issue and everything scoots along... so I will see on this play-through.

I also now tend to grind 2-3 levels before each new "area" - like now I am doing a few levels before I jump into Tower of Babel - the bad guys outside dwarf town are very easy, but give very little exp for what is now needed per level. The stupid spike rats outside the dark elf place were total pains in the butt!

The mid-game of FF4 is the hardest part. Depending on the version, the one-two punch of Calbrena + Golbez has given me more fits than anything else in the game.

Good places to level up:

-Mt Ordeals is slow, but super easy, and good to level before going back to Baron. Baigan is another tough opponent.

-The exit of Dwarf Castle. There's a full heal pot right there. I usually spam Titan with Rydia to one-shot everything and do that until the levels start being too slow. When I speedrun the game, this is the part where I stop for like 30 minutes and grind to catch up. The fact that it's after the Calbrena/Golbez thing is unfortunate.

-In the Cave of Summoned Monsters you can find a Summoner that only summons Arachnes, which only use Quake. Once Rosa has Float, you can drop that on everyone and be impervious while you slay as many Arachnes as you can tolerate and then get a massive amount of EXP after 20-30 minutes of this. I've seen everyone gain like 6 levels this way.

-The Moon has a few good spots, I've never really leveled there though. I think Bahamut Cave and/or the Lunar Paths are probably good.

TLDR: Do the Arachne one, once you have Float. Even better if you do this around the time of the Sealed Cave dungeon, which is the only time before endgame where you have the full endgame party. So you can get a lot of their leveling out of the way early.

Also be sure to get Asura and Leviathan summons before going to The Moon. And try to get Bahamut before leaving The Moon. You don't really want to do the Giant of Babil without them. It's doable, just easier to get stuck. The Elements fight in the Giant is he only place I've ever gotten "Wiegraf'd" and had to start the game over.
 
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Rajaah

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What I seem to be getting from this thread is buy 6 or 5 and ignore the others, at least for now.

How did you all play these originally? Were they released on SNES or Jap-onry imports?

Just get the whole set. Make sure you do the discounted all in one pack, which on PS5 is in the "..." button on FF6's screen in the store. Saves you like $30.

If you don't have all the time in the world and want to play the best, I'd do FF1 first, then 4. Both are relatively short, worth playing, and what we got on the US SNES back in the day. If you really like 1's class system, do 5 next. If you prefer 4's story-based gameplay where every character has a unique skill, do 6 next. Then swing back to 2 and 3 if you want more, 2 is story and 3 is classes.

You could also do what we all did back in the day (by default) and play 1, 4, and 6, then go back and do the Japan-only 2, 3, 5. Nobody really likes 2 besides me though. It's more of a SaGa series game and it has the most miserable, depressing overworld theme in existence, which is also the track you hear the most often.

I must have played FF11 in 2004 then, fucking hell I needed so many passwords for playonline and the game sucked. All my friends quit a few weeks in.

WoW was not long after and we were obsessed for a good few years after.

I feel obligated to finish FF11 since I only have that and FF15 on my not completed list now.

Is it even possible to "finish" FF11? Especially now when I assume few people are still playing. What would finishing it entail? It's one of my handful of unplayed/unbeaten FFs. I guess getting to max level would be sort of like beating it, but who knows how soloable it is since it's based on early EQ.
 
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Chris

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Is it even possible to "finish" FF11? Especially now when I assume few people are still playing. What would finishing it entail? It's one of my handful of unplayed/unbeaten FFs. I guess getting to max level would be sort of like beating it, but who knows how soloable it is since it's based on early EQ.
Well I would say that finishing the Endwalker MSQ is the correct ending for FF14 regardless of what else they add, as it resolves the main storylines.

So does FF11 have a similar expansion that resolves the original storylines? Or maybe the original storyline is complete without expansions?
 

Rajaah

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Well I would say that finishing the Endwalker MSQ is the correct ending for FF14 regardless of what else they add, as it resolves the main storylines.

So does FF11 have a similar expansion that resolves the original storylines? Or maybe the original storyline is complete without expansions?

I have no earthly clue, but maybe someone familiar with FF11 can chime in and explain.

I wrote a guide for FF4 back in the day (circa 1996 or so), which is probably why I'm so familiar with that game, but I know comparatively very little about the later ones, especially the online ones. I also did a lot of FF1 and 6 writeups. Crazy how all of that is still fresh in my mind 25+ years later, yet I struggle to learn anything new in the modern era. I don't think my FF4 guide was very good, but maybe it was. Wish I knew where to find it.
 

Chris

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I have no earthly clue, but maybe someone familiar with FF11 can chime in and explain.

I wrote a guide for FF4 back in the day (circa 1996 or so), which is probably why I'm so familiar with that game, but I know comparatively very little about the later ones, especially the online ones. I also did a lot of FF1 and 6 writeups. Crazy how all of that is still fresh in my mind 25+ years later, yet I struggle to learn anything new in the modern era. I don't think my FF4 guide was very good, but maybe it was. Wish I knew where to find it.
Well you should have put it on gamefaqs, that's where the good guides went.
 

Grizzlebeard

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I'd imagine FFXI has a pretty high barrier to entry now. If you want to achieve anything of worth you need a party and many of the expansions are very fond of level-syncing you way down which prevents you overlevelling and strong-arming content.

That's aside from the macros you need to make for your action keys including gear swaps on weaponskills etc.

Saying that, it was a beautiful game and the soundtrack was A++.
 
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Caeden

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View attachment 483027
Trying to make heads or tails of my FF8 file. Looks like I played up to around the Timber part of the game (probably for access to certain cards). Squall's attack power is super high and the rest of his stats are normal.

View attachment 483028
I do seem to have about 80-90% of all the GF abilities for the first 3 GFs (too bad I didn't get to Diabolos for Encounter None) while still having low levels, not sure how I did that because I don't remember this game well enough. Seems like everyone is under level 10 except Squall at level 11.

View attachment 483029
Lot of spells are at 100, including Double which is pretty huge this early. I'm certain I refined that from cards. Looks like that's most of what I did, won card battles and refined spells from cards. Not sure how I got GF abilities and levels so high while also not gaining character levels.

View attachment 483030
Here's FFX-2. This file is way later than the other early-game files I've shown and is probably about halfway through the game. Which is fine because the first half of this is fun enough and easy enough to replay normally before switching tracks to this file to plow the rest. I have a basically unkillable party here between 2x Darkness and an Alchemist (3x DK is even more OP, but Alchemist ensures they won't run into problems with any bosses)

View attachment 483031
Aside from Darkness being incredibly OP in this, DKs are also pretty much immune to all statuses. Looks like I didn't really do a ton with any other classes so I just focused on the most OP ones rather than doing a full max-out.

View attachment 483032
Lastly we have FF12 Zodiac Age. This save file is the earliest out of all of them, pretty much right at the beginning. Maybe like 30 minutes into the game. I thought I had Danjuros but what I actually have are Karkatas, which is still a top-tier weapon damagewise and inflicts Confuse (even on a lot of bosses). Look how much higher the damage output is than the other stats.

View attachment 483033
Also have a ton of the License Boards done on Vaan and Penelo, which means future characters will join with a ton of LP and be able to do the same.

The important thing was getting enough LP on the Knight board to be able to actually equip Karkata, just farming them wasn't enough. It's in the southeast area of the board. I farmed 3 of the weapon (for a 3 person party) which took a couple hours of farming the first 3 fights of the Trial Mode. This also got me a boatload of money (from selling Diamond Armlets from the first TM fight).

View attachment 483037
All in all it took 6 and a half hours to get 3 Karkatas, 35,000 Gil, the needed LP, and level 20, which is all pretty huge for being 30 minutes into the game.

That's all I've got for super-files. Though I did also do some pumped-up early game files for a few others.

FF2 NES - Have a file at the very beginning where everyone has around 2000 HP and significantly built-up stats, which makes it a snap if I ever need to play FF2 NES again.

FF3 NES - Have a file right after the first dungeon/boss with four level 13 Monks (since Monks get the biggest HP increase of the early classes). This one took a while and was super grindy because FF3 early game enemies give paltry rewards, so I don't recommend it. Level 13 will basically just give me a leg up for like the next 20% of the game, if that.

FF10 - Have a save in Luca (which is fairly early) where I built up a decent amount of Sphere Levels and, more importantly, farmed 99 of the various sphere orbs at Besaid Island. Getting more sphere levels is easy and gets easier as the game goes on, but I never had enough sphere orbs to spend them without going back and farming. So this file negates the need for that.

Whew, I think that's everything. PrimalLiquid on Youtube did some good "get overpowered early" videos that helped me figure a lot of this out, so check that out if there's a particular game you want to maximize. Some of the stuff he does takes like a hundred hours though. I spent like 5-12 on most of these OP files, think FF7 at 17 hours was the longest (unless you count X-2 at 18 but that was with me playing half the game).

I never did this kind of early-game super file stuff for any other series (probably because you usually can't). Closest thing I can think of is that Dragon Quest 6 has a specific area about halfway through the game, a tower, where you can max out classes way before you're supposed to be able to (as most areas have caps on when class points stop being gained). Endgame areas let you max classes but not before that except this one tower, so I maxed out a bunch of classes there and could have maxed all of them. This was in 2021 or so and I was spending a lot of time on airplanes, so grinding in DQ6 on a phone was a good way to relax.
You are a really nice dude, so take this as a gentle ribbing. Holy autism!!

I love it.
 

Merrith

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My issue with 9 has always been pacing and the late game story. Everything is great on the initial continent, but everything seems to slow way down once you leave it aside from a few spots. The Hot and Cold minigame is only fun for so long, as well.

The original SNES version of 6 has so many ways to break it, so many aspects of combat are broken in that version. I always loved waiting until you could get people to the dino forest in World of Ruin. Once you could solo fights there, characters could just skyrocket levels/abilities.
 

Rajaah

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You are a really nice dude, so take this as a gentle ribbing. Holy autism!!

I love it.

Ha, I think I'm definitely on the spectrum, but hopefully in that Elon Musk "uses it as a skill" sense. Except he uses it to make billions of dollars and I used it to study games and do well in school. It's a wonder I'm not overweight on top of that, because I should be.

We'll see if I can find that FF4 guide at some point but even if I do I doubt it's too much to write home about, given that I was 13 with minimal writing experience.

My issue with 9 has always been pacing and the late game story. Everything is great on the initial continent, but everything seems to slow way down once you leave it aside from a few spots. The Hot and Cold minigame is only fun for so long, as well.

The original SNES version of 6 has so many ways to break it, so many aspects of combat are broken in that version. I always loved waiting until you could get people to the dino forest in World of Ruin. Once you could solo fights there, characters could just skyrocket levels/abilities.

9's pacing is really bad. I don't know what was going on with the battle system in 9, but everything just felt so slowed to a crawl that I remember not particularly enjoying it. It's like there were a lot of pauses between entering a command and the character taking action for some reason. I rarely see anybody else bring this up about 9, but it sure was obnoxious. That's the main thing that kept me from replaying it, that and Excalibur II looking pretty awful to try and do (and I would, 'cause plat).
 

Siliconemelons

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At the end of FF4 now, the pacing of this game... I do not know how to explain it, having come off 1 through 3... it is better...much better, but in an odd way- you really do not "stop" in this game until the end - all the other ones you had lots of times where you just kind of stop and chill.

I used the levitation and finding that summoner encounter that spawns the spider lady to grind. hit 55 on most and decided to give the final segment a go... so we will see how it goes.

Looking forward to 5 because I have never finished it, not looking forward to it because I am still not really a fan of job-based systems even after finishing 3.
 

joz123

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At the end of FF4 now, the pacing of this game... I do not know how to explain it, having come off 1 through 3... it is better...much better, but in an odd way- you really do not "stop" in this game until the end - all the other ones you had lots of times where you just kind of stop and chill.

I used the levitation and finding that summoner encounter that spawns the spider lady to grind. hit 55 on most and decided to give the final segment a go... so we will see how it goes.

Looking forward to 5 because I have never finished it, not looking forward to it because I am still not really a fan of job-based systems even after finishing 3.
5 has a way better job system. You don't level jobs in 5, you just get job points for skills instead. So you can switch jobs any time and not suffer lower stats because of it like in 3.
 

Siliconemelons

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Okay Zeromus down, 3rd try, had to get a good RNG. Rydia didn't make it through it though. Cecil was 57 or 58 by the time I got to him - badly placed or double big bangs was a wipe.... but never the less, we got em.

Now off to Butz! (thats his name, 4realbro)
 
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Rajaah

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Okay Zeromus down, 3rd try, had to get a good RNG. Rydia didn't make it through it though. Cecil was 57 or 58 by the time I got to him - badly placed or double big bangs was a wipe.... but never the less, we got em.

Now off to Butz! (thats his name, 4realbro)

Rydia never makes it.

In the 3D version you can farm Silver Apples at Mt. Ordeals pretty easily and bump up her HP a lot which is nice.
 

TheNozz

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