Parrhesia Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 (edited) Sword in hand, a warrior clutches stone to breast... Hello! My name is Parrhesia, and I am here to, well... to suffer, bluntly. I can't find any videos of the pretty Attract Mode cinematic thing. One of the things I will give plenty of credit to this game for is its aesthetic. Final Fantasy Tactics is almost a good game, but it manages to do almost nothing to a mediocre standard. It is either good or insanely bad at... basically everything? For those unfamiliar, it's the first of the Tactics subset, and the first Final Fantasy set in Ivalice. It's either an unrecognisably long time probably before or possibly after the familiar block of 12/Revenant Wings/A2 (A1 according to my theory Left Some Waves In Real Ivalice or something, IDK about Vagrant Story). We'll basically only see humans here. Ivalice is going through some rough shit at the moment, and the game's subtitle is a heavy-handed reference to the War of the Roses which the game's central conflict is a heavy-handed reference of. I'm not here to shit all over FFT, either. It does some things well, and hell, it reaches for the stars. I won't be trying to do too much with the narrative, unlike my FFTA2 LP, since the game tries to tell it all itself. There is nothing wrong with liking FFT. But its design process was... ... not good. But it should be a fun ride to get through. Narratively, the game is opened with some old scholar talking about how this dude, Delita Heiral, went down in history as the guy who brought peace to Ivalice, a shithole. FFT's original translation for its PS1 release was incredibly bad. FFT: WotL, however, was given a... more... polished localisation, it's fair to say. The problem is that it's also really bad because everyone talks in weird flowery garbage all the time and it's hella tiresome. So basically this guy Arazlam's building this thesis on how this dude five centuries ago was 'the true hero'. He's... I mean, that's a way of looking at it. The official line is that this guy was just some random heretic who died in obscurity and has like, a three-line Wikipedia page. weirdly enough whatever name and date of birth we enter will also be ramzas name and date of birth Let's get right into this. Edited April 23, 2017 by Parrhesia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dandragon Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 Here we fuckin go boyssss Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mage Knight 404 Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 Ciaran m8 what are you doing shit talking FFT why I oughta-- ...Actually no, I wanna see how this one pans out. Can we blame ourselves or God? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maybe Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 are you sure that it "aged poorly" and wasnt just a bad game anyway I hate fft because you press a button other than x to select things and you can't change the controls but maybe it's actually ok idk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eclipse Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 Please rip the story to shreds, PLEASE rip the story to shreds! Good to see that this has started~! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Integrity Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 5 hours ago, unique said: but maybe it's actually ok idk it is not, my goy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maybe Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 1 hour ago, Integrity said: it is not, my goy you're right, no game that doesn't use x to select things can be an ok one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Punished Dayni Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 ..... A negative opinion on FFT? I have to look now to see what's going to be said! All I've heard is about how GOOD this is, but for me, well, I couldn't get into it. (And I finished FFTA, despite all my dislike for it, especially in story and that asshole MC) So hearing a perspective that isn't how much someone loves the game is nice enough. (Also, seriously, people getting mad about not pressing X? It's Japan being itself as usual, and I'd assume it's no big deal to this forum, considering it's all about a franchise that presses the equivalent to circle on Nintendo consoles) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maybe Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 Just now, Dayni said: (Also, seriously, people getting mad about not pressing X? It's Japan being itself as usual, and I'd assume it's no big deal to this forum, considering it's all about a franchise that presses the equivalent to circle on Nintendo consoles) i'm not sure why you're saying "people" when it was just me who said anything about that and I don't know what you mean by that but in fire emblem you press a to select things you press a to select things in any fire emblem game, you press a to jump in mario and kirby, you press a to talk to people in zelda, you press a to select things in any other nintendo game you press x to jump in crash bandicoot, you press x to jump in symphony of the night, and you press x to crouch or roll in metal gear solid and it works a lot better there because I can just keep my thumb over x and square most of the time i don't care that you have to press o to select things here but in final fantasy 7 which is by the same company and came before this, you can change the controls to whatever you want this wasn't even a legitimate complaint anyway I said that as a joke even though it's actually the big reason I don't like the game I didn't think anyone would actually take it seriously but I really don't see why they don't let you change the controls in this game Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Punished Dayni Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 1 minute ago, unique said: i'm not sure why you're saying "people" when it was just me who said anything about that and I don't know what you mean by that but in fire emblem you press a to select things you press a to select things in any fire emblem game, you press a to jump in mario and kirby, you press a to talk to people in zelda, you press a to select things in any other nintendo game you press x to jump in crash bandicoot, you press x to jump in symphony of the night, and you press x to crouch or roll in metal gear solid and it works a lot better there because I can just keep my thumb over x and square most of the time i don't care that you have to press o to select things here but in final fantasy 7 which is by the same company and came before this, you can change the controls to whatever you want this wasn't even a legitimate complaint anyway I said that as a joke even though it's actually the big reason I don't like the game I didn't think anyone would actually take it seriously but I really don't see why they don't let you change the controls in this game The reason why I bring up the A and Circle thing is that they're in the same place in terms of button locations. And of course, Circle being used is something Japan just does. Also, it's the internet, apologies for not getting it's a joke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Augestein Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 12 hours ago, eclipse said: Please rip the story to shreds, PLEASE rip the story to shreds! Good to see that this has started~! This. The story is at its best at Chapter 1 and from there it becomes a train wreck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 crap we are running out of final fantasy tactics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Integrity Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 (edited) 1 hour ago, Dayni said: The reason why I bring up the A and Circle thing is that they're in the same place in terms of button locations. yes, however, most nintendo controllers are not most ps controllers in terms of feel/layout playing gba/etc. games with my logitech f310 or whatever felt janky as shit for a while until i adjusted compared to playing games designed for ps/xbox where the adjustment period was minimal on the other hand just play with steam controller everything is weird and then nothing is not-weird steam controller owns btw EDIT: i hate double spacing Edited March 26, 2017 by Integrity Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrhesia Posted March 26, 2017 Author Share Posted March 26, 2017 Update 1 Spoiler  After the hustle and bustle of the opening cinematic, we're in some church. Ovelia, some sort of VIP, is being shouted at by her knight to get a fucking move on. But like, politely. Enter Rude Knight! His first name is Gaff. His full name is Gaff Gaffgarion. Despite being a Rude Knight and, in this situation, random mercenary thug, he speaks pseudo-Shakespearean rather than English. He then talks shit about the custom of bowing in particular. Gaff: We are in the employ of the Order, not of it. Our pay does not cover trite courtesies to the likes of you. Knight: Govern your tongue! Get used to hearing about the Northern Sky guys. It turns out they hired Doublegaff and his two thugs. Ovelia understandably doesn't want, you know, a fucking fight. Too fuckin bad, says the narrative. Get used to seeing a lot of unique sprite animations! Or, at least, stills of them. If FFT's gameplay designer was half as good as the sprite animation guy and the music guy, this game would rule. The priest immediately fingers some 'Duke Goltanna', blue knight rushes out the door... Aaand this guy here is our protagonist. Ovelia whispers a prayer, scene end. Hey, while we're in the mood for praise, it's time to compliment FFT again; it does the whole 'enemy colours' thing! White/red/green indicates southerners, primarily red with like... white and blue? highlights is northerners, temple guys are like a cool red/blue... green/yellow will mean brigands/other neutrals. I'm not good at describing it. Most of the time allied units are green and blue, as is generally TRPG standard. This does not extend to hair colours. Everyone in Ivalice is blonde. These guys want the princess. Blue Kni- fuck it, Agrias Oakes wants Gaff and his thugs to fuck off, she's got it. Gaff's not having it - he wants the pay. After all these nice things, the introductory mission of FFT fucking sucks. Everyone who isn't Mercurio is a guest. This is a recurrent problem of FFT. It loves its fucking guests. Funnily enough, the distribution's about right, too. Doublegaff and Agrias are unstoppable beasts, whereas the thug and the two other knights are just sort of guys who are taking up perfectly good party space, because the guests about half the time reduce your combat load, which is a meagre five at the best of times. I immediately run Mercurio in, discover he doesn't have any ranged attacks, and thus press to delete my move. The game then allows me to move my unit back to the start, allowing me to adjust haha no just kidding fuck you player, all moves are final in a game with very unforgiving height mechanics and a bullshit zodiac system that means you really fucking need to be able to check shit before committing wholly to it. While Gaffs and Agrias annihilated some random archer, here is Lavian hurling a rock at some guy. It's a process repeated Unlike the FFTA/2 doctrine which was to give units varied movesets, a lot of classes in FFT can only do one thing. Most prominently archers and knights. Now, archers were actually interesting in theory - but knights are fucking infuriating to fight because they can break your shit. Agrias' shield? Yeah, it's gone. Forever. That is all they do - they break shit. Occasionally they break stats instead, but mostly it's your shit. its a good thing we wont be seeing many of them eh lads This I guess is a good time to showcase archers, as well. The explosively-taking-a-shit pose of the more foreground archer indicates that he's aiming to shoot for more damage. He aims the shot on his turn, it takes a while to actually go off. It's actually a neat mechanic - I like charging in general, it's a good nerf for spells. The only issue with archers is that instead of getting other things that are not Aim they get incredibly high-end Aims that will never land, and that Aim hits squares instead of targets (spells will move with the target), and that their stats are mediocre. They're bad, but fixable through tweaks. Gaffgarion puts the chemist into the Own Zone. His one skill which is all he ever uses deals damage better than his attack at range to heal himself for the same number. This would make him infuriating were he ever hypothetically to face someone one-on-one. Rock on. Okay, so desiring consistency is one thing, but almost nobody in this game has evade and there is no actual variance. Ramza Will Hit, For Forty Two Damage (unless he crits). Might as well bring you to the status screen. 42 is, you see, because it's a flat-out straight-up 6 (Ramza's physical attack, to the right of the sword icon) times 7 (the sword's damage, in the Weapon Power for his Right hand). The majority of weapons are like that, but some (bows, fists and katanas as far as I can think of) use weird and opaque formulas instead. The 8% is its parry which he'd get if he had the one Parry reaction ability. Mercurio is a Squire, but his own special Squire that gets his own special skillset and is sort of cute in that unlike the regular, fucking awful Squire class, it sort of gets buffs as you progress through the story to keep up. I like that. Bravery and Faith are kind of weird. Bravery's basically like, percentage change for a reaction ability to go off. If Mercurio had Counter and got hit, he'd have a 56% chance to hit back. Faith is the effectiveness of magic, both The starsigns are bullshit. It's a damage multiplier against other starsigns. Mercurio will arbitrarily do a notable amount More against some signs, Less against others, Annihilate female Libras and Be Unable To Touch male Libras. And vice versa - Leos/Sagittari/Libradudes will hurt him more, the Poor/Bad compats less. Ladd lightly shoves the dude to death, and it's cutscene time. That's good, because the cutscenes are all really aesthetic. This also follows an interesting line of casting in that, broadly, everyone but Mercurio can act pretty well, and Mercurio himself is fucking awful. Enjoy it.   Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maybe Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 2 hours ago, Princess Lore said: crap we are running out of final fantasy tactics can we do Mercenaries Saga 2 after this, it's the most blatant FFT clone ever but I actually enjoyed it unlike FFT anyway my thoughts on the beginning of the game: Gaff Gaffgarian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eclipse Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 13 minutes ago, unique said: can we do Mercenaries Saga 2 after this, it's the most blatant FFT clone ever but I actually enjoyed it unlike FFT anyway my thoughts on the beginning of the game: Gaff Gaffgarian No. The story is boring as shit, and the characters even moreso. Great game to play through once, but not for a LP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maybe Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 (edited) 2 minutes ago, eclipse said: No. The story is boring as shit, and the characters even moreso. Great game to play through once, but not for a LP. hm yeah the actual story has literally nothing to it, so i guess it wouldn't make for a good LP i think there was another fairly popular FFT knockoff but I don't think it was actually good and I doubt there was much to that one's story either so I guess parrhesia finishes the FFTs with this one Edited March 26, 2017 by unique Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrhesia Posted March 26, 2017 Author Share Posted March 26, 2017 2 minutes ago, eclipse said: No. The story is boring as shit, and the characters even moreso. right but enough about fft, what's this mercenary saga all about Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maybe Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 (edited) nice although I guess at least with FFT's story they tried, they just didn't make something good with mercenaries saga 2 they just made an FFT and probably made up a story in like 5 minutes to put around the game not to say fft's is better though it just had a bit more effort put into it, probably Edited March 26, 2017 by unique Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eclipse Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 Just now, Parrhesia said: right but enough about fft, what's this mercenary saga all about Take FFT, and cut out 90% of the story, leaving Ramza and a few forced characters intact. Now make it so that everyone has a handful of classes they can go into. Lastly, force people into niches. That is Mercenaries Saga 2. But for all the shit I give it, it did a better job with its story execution than FFT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maybe Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 it was the most i've ever enjoyed a thoroughly mediocre game, a cheap knockoff, and an FFT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Integrity Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 27 minutes ago, eclipse said: No. The story is boring as shit, and the characters even moreso. Great game to play through once, but not for a LP. sounds like a perfect lp, a game i haven't played even once Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maybe Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 4 minutes ago, Integrity said: sounds like a perfect lp, a game i haven't played even once the problem is there's literally nothing fun about reading an lp of it it's not a bad game and the story has nothing interesting, so there's not really anything to enjoy if you're not actually playing it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Punished Dayni Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 (edited) Ramza Mercurio's VA. Holy crap I feel pretty bad for him because that is a crummy performance. (The cutscene's artwork actually seems pretty cool to be fair) I have to ask about the compatibility; Is it that Good compatibility increases damages both for attacker and defender or not? (Also, the Faith description cuts off and doesn't finish) Edited March 27, 2017 by Dayni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maybe Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 3 minutes ago, Dayni said: Ramza's VA. Holy crap I feel pretty bad for him because that is a crummy performance. (The cutscene's artwork actually seems pretty cool to be fair) sorry I think you meant Mercurio's VA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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