Final Fantasy 4 Dropped

It's sickening how much of a free ride Final Fantasy games get these days, given how shit most of them are.

They all suffer from the same critical issues:

• Random encounters
• Physical attacks alone are not enough, you have to use magic
• Spells cost too much
• MP recovery items are ridiculously rare
• MP recovery items don't recover enough MP
• If they can be found in shops at all, MP recovery items are ridiculously expensive
• Inns gradually cost more and more as you progress through the game

However, there are some other issues that I'm only 100% sure apply to Final Fantasy 4, so here's a separate bulleted list:

• Can't tell what items do when looking at them in the items menu (I have all these things like UniHorn and HrGlass1, but what do they do?)
• Can't tell what the stats are on a piece of equipment, whether it's in your inventory or if you're looking at it in a shop
• Many menu sequences are cumbersome and unintuitive, such as when using a Potion, first there's the opportunity to move it around in your inventory, and then you use it, but if you want to use another one straight away you have to re-select it again
• I've only ever gotten one Remedy, and I used it (I haven't seen it in any of the shops I have access to)
• Potions and the Cure line of spells have different recovery values seemingly per-use, but also in-battle vs. out-of-battle
• I reached a "Training Room" that gave me basic instructions on how to play the game only after having played the game for several hours, most of the things it told me about I'd already figured out on my own by feeling around in the dark
• Said "feeling around in the dark" was the only way I was able to figure out how to "sheathe my sword" during a fight where it was apparently required to not fail horribly (by "sheathe", they mean "unequip", and there's a hidden menu where you can change your weapons during battle)
• Randomly dropping money when running from a fight
• Enemies can often take three or four actions each before you get a turn
• Actions all have different activation times, but the game never explicitly tells you this
• Edward is a pussy and runs away when you're trying to heal him
• Items and MP are consumed even when their target becomes invalid during the activation time (i.e. I was trying to heal Edward but he hid like a coward during Cure2's activation time, Tellah still loses the MP for Cure2)
• Cecil, for story reasons, gives up being a dark knight and becomes a paladin, only to deal far less damage even once you level him back up to where he was to begin with, and then he gets subpar white magic because "lol paladin"
• The writing feels very stiff and robotic, even if the story is somewhat decent
• Trying to make me care about certain completely obnoxious characters when they heroically sacrifice themselves to save the rest of the party
• Constantly cycling who's in my party so I can't just go level up somewhere and reduce the game's crap-factor through grinding
• A certain boss has a weakness to metallic weapons, so he casts a spell on the cave he takes up residence in to make anyone with metallic items equipped be unable to move, so basically I have to equip total shit equipment in order to do anything in the cave, except I can't do anything because I can't deal damage worth shit
• The effect that gets put on a character with metal equipment is Paralysis, but unlike normal Paralysis, it can't be Esuna'd away (though oddly it goes away if the character dies and is revived)
• Tellah says "don't worry, with my magic, we're invincible", yet the effect still persists
• Said boss also deals 9999 damage per hit when I have maybe a tenth of that as max HP, and wipes my party before I can deal any damage whatsoever thanks to the activation times on everything

If you need a reason why I'm dropping Final Fantasy 4, just read all the bullet points.  It's a shit game, and if you like it, you have shit taste in video games.

Summer of RPGs 2017

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I have an RPG backlog that I need to get through.  So basically, this summer, I'm gonna do just that.

The plan is to get through as many of the games as possible.  To make this a bit easier, I'm not counting games that I want to buy, but haven't yet.  The list is thus pared down to the following:

• I Am Setsuna (PC)
• Chrono Cross (PS1)
• Final Fantasy 4 (PS1)
• Dark Cloud 1 (PS2)
• Fossil Fighters Frontier (3DS)
• Etrian Odyssey 4 (3DS)

Currently, I'm playing through I Am Setsuna, and plan to proceed down that list from top to bottom.

To make things go faster, I'm trying very hard to not be my usual self.  This means saving my typical completionism and as much other grindy activity as possible for later.  I already know that Chrono Cross will be made a lot harder by not grinding, due to how it hands out random stat boosts periodically in lieu of traditional level-ups.

Some of the titles in that list are in the situation where I started playing them a long time ago, but forget the story, where I was, and where I was going; thus in those games I'll be starting over from the beginning.

The more observant of you may notice that this gaming project also involves finishing two of my most procrastinated gaming projects: Chrono Fever and Project 'Bout Fuckin' Time.  Gotta get it done.

Unlike what I did with Rogue Galaxy, there won't be session posts for these games.  In fact, if I post anything, it's generally going to be a tweet or two.  I do plan on doing overarching summary posts, though, so stay tuned for those.

Also, the end of the summer doesn't necessarily mean I'm just going to stop playing.  I'll likely still continue, the whole "Summer of RPGs" label is just a nice way for me to try and remain focused on the task at hand.

Because I've gotten a fair distance into I Am Setsuna, there will probably be one of those "overarching summary posts" coming up soon, so stay tuned.

Chrono Fever: Time for Chrono Cross

Didn't I say I'd do Final Fantasy 4 next and finish off Project 'Bout Fuckin' Time?  Yes, yes I did.  However, I've already delayed Project 'Bout Fuckin' Time so much, what's a little more delay on top of that.  I need some Chrono Cross in my life.

For whatever reason, people like to ignore the existence of Chrono Cross.  I don't know if they genuinely don't know about it, or if they're purposefully denying its existence.  Whatever the case, Chrono Cross is a really good game, and they're missing out on it.  Yeah, I know, it's different from Chrono Trigger.  Yeah, I know the battle mechanics changed completely.  It's still a really good game, and not worth overlooking.

So, for anyone who doesn't already know, I'll recap my experience with Chrono Cross.  A long time ago, I got the game and started playing it.  While I didn't get to the second disc, I still got pretty far in the game.  Then, for whatever reason (or the lack thereof), I put it down and haven't played it since.  Being that I don't remember where I was or what I was doing, I'm just going to start over.  Which is fine by me, since I don't fully remember everything that happened.

All of that was typed in advance of actually starting Chrono Cross.  I don't really plan on doing session posts like I did with Rogue Galaxy, but I will post if something interesting happens.  After the break will be kind of a summary of the beginning of the game.

Right under my damn nose

So, you may or may not recall that since I moved last, I was unable to locate my PS2's RCA A/V cable.  I had a perfectly good S-Video A/V cable, but no screen that took S-Video as an input without an adapter of one or another variety.

Yesterday, I had the genius idea to use a four-way system selector to just automatically convert S-Video to RCA video, which would solve my problems.  There so happened to be such a system selector in my dad's entertainment center, uselessly sitting there between the VCR we never use and the TV and audio receiver, with the VCR as the only thing plugged into it.  So, with a little backwards shuffling of the VCR to make cables reach, I hooked it up directly to everything and extracted my prize.

I proceeded to hook up everything, including the PS2.  Excited that I was going to get to play Guitar Hero once again, I opened the controller pocket on the travel case I have for my PS2, which also houses my memory cards.  There, sandwiched between the two controllers, I saw something.  It looked oddly like a set of red, white, and yellow RCA male plugs.

Yeah, so that happened.  The cable was in my damn PS2 travel case the entire fucking time.  Go me.

So, what does this mean?  Well, other than being able to play Guitar Hero again...

• After finishing Chrono Trigger DS, and the Bravely Default SCIENCE!, I can finally get to the last half of Project 'Bout Fuckin' Time and play me some Final Fantasy 4.
• After that, I can finally play through Chrono Cross.  A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I played through a significant portion of the first disc, then for whatever reason I set it down and didn't come back to it.  Now that I've completely forgotten where I was and what I was doing, I'm just going to start the story over again.
• And then, who knows what?  I'm hoping I can entice some friends into playing Melty Blood or Fate/Unlimited Codes at some point (or maybe even Garou: Mark of the Wolves or The Rumble Fish).  I'm not particularly amazing at fighting games in general, and usually play troll strategies with no real regard as to whether or not I win.  This works well considering I have friends who, just like me, aren't tourneyfags.  Thus, using mainly strings of basic attacks and the occasional special move or super is quite appropriate.

Gaming Projects Status Update

Any new/different information in this post overrides anything stated in previous posts.

• Chrono Fever (Chrono Trigger → Radical Dreamers → Chrono Cross):
• Chrono Trigger (PSX): Beaten, Extras Mode fully unlocked, everyone level 99 with max power/magic/speed, enough copies of the best equipment so that I don't have to do equipment swaps
• Chrono Trigger (SNES): Beaten, everyone level 99 with max power/magic/speed, enough copies of the best equipment so that I don't have to do equipment swaps
• Chrono Trigger (DS): Have all techs for everyone but Magus, advancing story to where I get Magus
• Radical Dreamers: Died on Lynx with no savestate, haven't retried
• Chrono Cross: Not started
• Secret of Mana-thon: Dropped due to grind
• Project 'Bout Fuckin' Time (Link's Awakening DX → Final Fantasy 4):
• Link's Awakening DX: Beaten
• Final Fantasy 4: Not started
• Simpsons Hit and Run: Dropped due to in-game time limits being too strict
• Bravely Default: Norende completed a long time ago with about 45 citizens.  Able to defeat lower-level Nemeses reliably.  Have the elusive Japanese Elixir Mammon.  Ready to continue with story.
• PC Games:
• Half-Life 1: Beaten
• Half-Life: Blue Shift: Beaten
• Half-Life: Opposing Force: Dropped due to infinite spawns leaving no room to retreat
• Half-Life 2 and episodes: Not started
• Commander Keen "Complete" Pack: stalled on Commander Keen 2
• Aquaria: a key item I need is finite and I've used all I obtained, will probably try to just hack my save file to add in just enough (justified since the item IS FUCKING FINITE)
• Torchlight: Had mods installed, had to reinstall OS, forgot which mods I had installed, haven't picked back up as a result
• Dungeons of Dredmor: semi-stalled, I go back to it every now and then
• Hell Yeah!: stuck on final boss
• Magicka: Have all DLC, haven't gotten back to 100% achievements yet (missing a few in Dungeons and Daemons, and haven't touched Dungeons and Gargoyles)
• Beat Hazard: I need to get better at the game to get back to 100% achievements
• Castle Crashers: Replaying periodically just to play the characters I skipped in my epic quest to unlock as much as I could, plus I almost think I can defeat the Thieves' Forest boss on Insane Mode now
• BattleBlock Theater: Still going strong
• Mitsurugi Kamui Hikae: stalled
• Ether Vapor Remaster: stalled
• Fairy Bloom Freesia: main story beaten, guardian mode stalled
• Chantelise: stalled due to not being able to restart on the one mission that's giving me trouble because you have to complete all missions in a given area in one go and the camera x axis is inverted from what I want it to be

Defeat Cheapness With Equal Cheapness

I sequence broke like I said I would.  Grabbed everything that was remaining and went back.  Hit the boss with the Magic Rod three times, battle over.

LOL.

Anyway.

The 8th dungeon is quite the maze, but once you figure it out you can get right to the boss without issue.  After beating it, the game isn't over.  After all, you're collecting the eight instruments to wake the Wind Fish.  So then you go to the Wind Fish's egg in the mountains and play the Ballad of the Wind Fish on your ocarina.  All the instruments appear and you get the extended version, then the egg opens up.

Now, a long time ago, I'd heard that if you never looked up the proper sequence to go through in the maze inside the egg, it would be the same as the maze at the end of Zelda 1, i.e. North-West-South-West.  However, I avoided the library for the entire game and it spit me back out to the entrance after going North-West-South.

Read the book, got my (apparently random) order, and got to the final fight, which has a few different forms.  Nothing too difficult, you just have to swap weapons around (and for one form, try different tactics) until you figure out what damages it.

Once that's done, you get the cutscene and end credits.  The cutscene all but flat-out tells you that this entire game is a dream sequence.  If you think back, it all makes sense.  All the bosses are called Nightmares.

Also, the opening cutscene should be a clue.  You know, the one you see every time you start up the game.  Link is trying to sail through a storm, lightning hits his ship, Marin finds him washed up on the beach, and...  Wind Fish's egg.  Even the game's name suggests he's asleep.

I know nothing of the Zelda timeline, but... all the talk in the closing cutscene of "waking" and the wind fish, and the fact that Link was on a huge ocean and continues to be on a huge ocean after waking up, leads me to think that Wind Waker comes after this game in the timeline?  I dunno.

All I know is, I've beaten a Legend of Zelda game now.  Next up, Final Fantasy 4.

Cheapest Boss Battle Ever

I'm basically done with the 7th dungeon in Link's Awakening.  All except for its boss.  He has an attack pattern that's easily handled for a while, until he decides to flap his wings to create wind and blow you clear off the top of the tower you're fighting him on, which of course resets the battle.  I've tried using the Pegasus Boots, they aren't helping.

The worst part is, when he comes in to do it, you can't distinguish the wind attack from his dive-bomb attack until it starts up.  Sometimes I've tried to anticipate it and ended up dashing off of the tower under my own power.

Regardless, I have the Mirror Shield now, so I think before I go back to that battle I'm going to slightly sequence break.  Go into the 8th dungeon, and grab the last Piece of Heart, which will complete my 12th heart container (of 14 total), and the Magic Rod.  With the Magic Rod I can get the 60 arrows upgrade for the bow/arrows.  Then everything will be fully upgraded and I'll just be missing the heart containers from the 7th and 8th dungeons.

More Link's Awakening DX

So now I'm up to the sixth dungeon.  I have in my posession almost all the awesome stuff: The Master Sword, the Hookshot, and the Boomerang.  Also got the bow and arrow (paid the 980 rupees at the shop rather than stealing it), and upgraded my bomb capacity to 60.  Magic Powder capacity got upgraded from 20 to 40 a long time ago, and the bow and arrow capacity can't be upgraded just yet.

One thing I find kind of annoying is all the item juggling that you need to do.  Some things, like the power bracelet, should really just be a persistent upgrade, in that once you get it, it's always equipped and you don't have to constantly switch back to it whenever you need to do some heavy lifting.  The flippers are a persistent upgrade, thankfully...

Still, the game is quite good.  Especially the music.  Even with the Game Boy's limited sound capabilities, the music sounds amazing.  I kind of wish I could turn off the sound effects so that they wouldn't override parts of the music.

By the way, this is by no means a no-death run, nor am I really going for 100% completion.  I want all the heart containers, and in the process of completing the game I'm getting all the equipment, but... the photos, which were an addition in the DX version just like the Color Dungeon?  Fuck the photos.  I've gotten a few of them, but I don't really care.

My preferred setup tends to be Master Sword on A and Hookshot on B.  The Master Sword is quite powerful, especially when you're at full health and it shoots its beam.  The Hookshot is just awesome because I can stab people from across the screen with it.  I bring in the Boomerang every now and then (mostly if I need to throw it on a diagonal, which is something the Hookshot can't do), but its limited range keeps it as a "just when I need it" item.

Project 'Bout Fuckin' Time: Link's Awakening DX

Consider Project 'Bout Fuckin' Time officially started.  I started up The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX on my GameCube + GameBoy Player earlier today, and worked my way up to and partway through the third dungeon.  In addition, I beat the Color Dungeon and grabbed the blue tunic (the one that halves all damage Link takes).  Being that I accidentally run into enemies and take contact damage a lot, the blue tunic should help tremendously.

There's not really much I can say other than that I'm using a guide to make sure I'm getting everything.  There's actually a guide on GameFAQs written expressly for that purpose, and it's coming in quite handy.

I doubt I'm going to do session posts because honestly Link's Awakening DX is a fairly short game.  Instead there will just be small status updates, like the one you're currently reading.

After Link's Awakening DX, I expect I'll dive into Final Fantasy 4, which is of course the other half of Project 'Bout Fuckin' Time.

Sorry Jon, I'm not playing Hit and Run yet.

Nothing posted in ages...

So, I got a job.  A real one this time.  It's sucking away all my free time.  Which means less time to play games and write blog posts.

Here's a quick rundown of what's happened recently:

• Guitar Hero 5: FCed Deadbolt by Thrice
• Rogue Galaxy: All my Dark Emperors are ACE and have all their stats except for health maxed.  Currently feeding them the item that boosts their health until they reach max health or stop gaining boosts from food, before entering Insectron S Rank.
• The Simpsons: Hit and Run: Still haven't started playing it.
• Project 'Bout Fuckin' Time: Still haven't started it.
• Food: I've been making yakisobapan for my lunches for work recently.  Might eventually formulate a recipe post.  It's really not a complex thing to make.
• Winter Anime Season: Finished Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai NEXT and Minami-ke Tadaima.  Haganai NEXT had its moments but wasn't quite as good as the first season, and Minami-ke Tadaima was actually pretty decent.  Initial D 5th Stage on hold, basically watching Central-Anime's DVD version.
• Spring Anime Season: Watching Haiyore! Nyaruko-san W, and To aru Kagaku no Railgun S.  Checking out Namiuchigiwa no Muromi-san and a couple others.
• Guild Wars: Retreated from GW2, for a variety of reasons I'll probably dedicate a post to in the near future.  Playing GW1 sporadically.
• Computer stuff: Learning XSLT and Windows PowerShell.
• CAINE: CAINE is attending Sakura Matsuri this weekend.  We wrapped up our scheduled showings recently and by far the best thing we watched this semester was Steins;Gate.  It was up against Now and Then, Here and There, Kino no Tabi, and Megas XLR.  Also, for whatever reason, we had a showing that consisted of both Nanoha movies.  I'm not really into magical girl stuff.

Revisiting Game Projects

So, now that I've beaten Rogue Galaxy, it's time to list what all is in store for me next.

My main project will be Project 'Bout Fuckin' Time, in which I beat both a Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy game.  I have Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX and Final Fantasy 4 chosen for that, because I already own them.  Link's Awakening DX will be played on my GameCube + GameBoy Player, and Final Fantasy 4 is the PlayStation version.

The PS2 project I didn't want to mention until I beat Rogue Galaxy is The Simpsons: Hit and Run.  If you read my previous post, Game Projects, very carefully, you may have noticed that the title is indeed (INDEED!) mentioned in the post.

On PC, I seem to have started up Costume Quest.

Also, Rogue Galaxy will still be in the rotation on low priority, as I still have plenty of stuff to do before the game is fully complete.

Rogue Galaxy session 8

I realized between sessions that I've kind of gravitated back towards my normal style of playing RPGs, which is of course to farm stuff at every available opportunity and grind levels/skills.  It makes the gameplay a lot more repetitive and boring, and is only going to artificially lengthen this playthrough and make it take longer for me to get to Project 'Bout Fuckin' Time.  I only really needed to do it for Deego anyway since he's rather underpowered when you get him in comparison to Gale.  So from now on I'll try and keep the farming to a minimum.  The farming would be more suited to a playthrough that's supported by a guide, and this is not one such playthrough.  I'm going in totally blind and trying to have a completely organic gameplay experience, similar to how one would have played the game right when it came out.

That said, I still need Hunter Coins so I can get that Platinum license, which I really really (really) want ASAP.  Ah, conflicts of interest.

So, final list of stuff I will do (and anything not on it I won't do, except for anything unforseen):

• Follow the storyline
• Unlock abilities as I get the necessary items
• Go up hunter ranks if I have the points to do so
• Weapon synthesis as I am able to do so
• Backtracking for missed chests once I can see them on the map

Now, on to session 8.

Since I had the Key Piece from Vedan, I set out to get the ones from Juraika and Zerard.  But as I did so, a new planet became available, named Alistia, that's apparently 90% water and travel is blocked to it most of the time.  So instead I headed there.  It seemed like a pretty big "um, hey, you might want to go there" flag to me.

After exploring a bit I overheard a conversation involving a local racial war and how they really needed to put aside their differences and fight against Daytron, who apparently polluted the ocean.  You know, the ocean that makes up 90% of the planet.  Reason for being on this planet discovered: beat the living shit out of Daytron.  The way this is going, Daytron is really shaping up to be the main enemy of the game.

Working my way towards Daytron's underwater lab I got the notice that I'd hit all the transporters on the planet and could now see chests.  Scrolling back through the area I'm in revealed two things to me:

• three chests I somehow missed entirely, in addition to the Sun Key chest I made note of
• the entire planet is one big explorable area

I guess this fairly well cements this area in place as a side quest, if it wasn't obvious from how it was just suddenly brought up.  The reward?  A new sword and costume for Jaster.  Plus all the other weapons I found in chests along the way for the rest of the crew.

I moved on to Zerard, despite really wanting to stay and get a few more challenge battles.  That pesky Platinum license was only nine Hunter Coins away, after all.  But regardless, I figured I'd probably get some challenge battles while ascending the two towers I need to ascend to get the Key Piece there.  Pretty early on I got a cutscene showing that Zegram's still being a douchebag.  Basically, the cone-tits woman that works for Daytron knows where we're going and what we're doing.

Well, they're not actually conical.  It's just that her dress has concentric circles over each breast...

Anyway.

I got up to the fourth floor of the towers before getting really tired and deciding to get some sleep.

Game Projects

So, I casually mentioned on Twitter that I have a PS2 game lined up after Rogue Galaxy.  This will be in addition to Project 'Bout Fuckin' Time, or rather alongside it.  I'm not saying which game it is yet, and I won't until I consider myself done with Rogue Galaxy.  "Considering myself done" means that I've beaten the game and checked out any stuff I missed and/or post-game content, because I believe there is a post-game area with some extra stuff to unlock.  GameFAQs' "cheats" page says that I can get a swimsuit costume for Kisala...

Of course, I'm far from beating Rogue Galaxy, so perhaps it was a bit premature to say what I said on Twitter, seeing as how it's set off a series of responses from my friends all hoping I'm choosing specific games...

@miki_sei said "Is it Persona? Because it should really be Persona."

@therealmonsoon said "oh man please say your next PS2 project is God of War 1+2. Everyone should play those."

Well, sorry to say, but it's neither of those, and speculation is useless because you probably won't guess the game.  I'm only going to give a vague clue that won't help at all because I've never really discussed this with anyone, and that would be that it's a game I've wanted to play for a long time but never had the chance to do so until now.

Don't get me wrong, Persona and the God of War series are both generally highly regarded games that I might get to at some point, but they're not what I chose...

Future Gaming Plans

Because planning is good.

Sometime in the near future I hope to rope a friend into playing Magicka co-op.  That is, if we can get our computers to connect to each other.  I'm behind a NAT and can't host because Magicka freezes, and he's on a university connection.

I also hope to get some Portal 2 co-op in.  Either that or I'm uninstalling to get my 11GB of hard drive space back.

In the console realm of things, I'm going to be playing through Rogue Galaxy on the PS2.  I've already beaten the first boss and the game seems to be pretty good so far, so I'm looking forward to dumping hours of my time into playing it.  I hope to get Rogue Galaxy done before the summer arrives, because then it's time for a lingering project of mine.

I call this project "Project 'Bout Fuckin' Time".  This project entails beating both a Legend of Zelda game and a Final Fantasy game.  Because I haven't done either of those yet.  Lined up to be knocked down are The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX and Final Fantasy IV.

Technically speaking I have a save in Link's Awakening DX that's on the eighth dungeon, but somehow I missed getting enough of the stupid seeds or acorns or whatever to get the second level sword.  So I'll be starting over from the beginning.  I'll also be playing it on my GameCube thanks to the Gameboy Player.

As far as Final Fantasy IV goes, when I got it along with Chrono Trigger in the PSX collection Final Fantasy Chronicles, I got it to the first save point, saved, and shut it off.  So there's still a lot of work to go there.  I really just bought the collection to get Chrono Trigger...

Also I have over a dozen games on Steam that I haven't even touched since getting them.  Not even joking.  Damn you, Humble Indie Bundle...