It Has To Be Said… [Spoilers]

The FMV sequence where Black Waltz No.3 tears the cargo ship apart along with the Black Mage crew who moments before hand, had ceased appearing to be completely mindless dolls and shown compassion for Vivi after he’d been threatened by the Black Waltz, is truly one of the best FMV sequences in an FF.

I saw it last night for the first time in ages and I’d forgotten just how moving it is as Vivi stands there, illuminated by the destruction of beings he’s still confused about calling his bretheren as a more powerful being who he could also label as "like him", slaughters the cargo ships crew.

Watching as the cargo containers full of unactivated Black Mages are split open, spilling the lifeless creations to the world below.

All the while Nobuo Uematsu is kicking our asses with a rather beautiful piano piece which finales with a more sinister and edgy turn as the Black Waltz turns his attention back to the group with the cargo ship’s crew dealt with.

YouTube Compilation of All Cargo Ship Scenes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqMkKZj1OO0

yeah i always liked that scene.

My favourite FF scene.

It was ok. Prefer the one where You’re not Alone plays, even though Zidane was pretty much emo by that time.

It was ok. Prefer the one where You’re not Alone plays, even though Zidane was pretty much emo by that time.

Well, he’s just emotionally torn at what he’s just learned, and although I’m not at all emo, I’d react no differently. I think if he reacted any other way, he’d be a little insane :O

As for the scene on the airship, that had a lot of emotional value for me as well. It conveys so much in so little time, and is just another of the many things that make IX one of the best in the series.

that scene with Dagger where she was on the top of the castle or whatever, with all the pigeons flying around her…. that was another fav of mine.

See, now that’s another thing I hate about IX. It had so many memorable scenes, a great storyline, characters, soundtrack, and I can’t fucking enjoy it becuase of the retarded battle system.

how is it retarded Smarty? sure you’re not thinking VIII?

He hates the length of summon animations (which we’ve explained, can be turned off) he hates how slow the standard ATB goes (which we’ve explained, can be turned up) and he hates Trance (which is basically Limit Breaks from FFVII…)

So I don’t really know why he continues to believe it’s retarded.

I think he hates Abilities too, because he wants to be able to equip better items but doesn’t want to grind AP to learn the abilities the old equipment has. Which is basically the only part of the game that requires effort.

Other FF games… they have TUTORIAL screens dedicated to how to use and set up abilities… FFIX? Blank basically says "Go to the menu, select Abilities… select Equip… go nuts".

I wouldn’t have minded if they’d brought over the "enemies level with your group" thing from FFVIII, but beyond that I just can’t see any faults with the battle system.

He hates the length of summon animations (which we’ve explained, can be turned off) he hates how slow the standard ATB goes (which we’ve explained, can be turned up) and he hates Trance (which is basically Limit Breaks from FFVII…)

So I don’t really know why he continues to believe it’s retarded.

I think he hates Abilities too, because he wants to be able to equip better items but doesn’t want to grind AP to learn the abilities the old equipment has. Which is basically the only part of the game that requires effort.

Other FF games… they have TUTORIAL screens dedicated to how to use and set up abilities… FFIX? Blank basically says "Go to the menu, select Abilities… select Equip… go nuts".

I wouldn’t have minded if they’d brought over the "enemies level with your group" thing from FFVIII, but beyond that I just can’t see any faults with the battle system.

You most definitely misunderstand.

I don’t hate the length of summon animation (which I know can be turned off). I hate the fact that magic in general is very slow to cast, I don’t hate the fact that the ATB is just slow (and I know it can be made faster), it doesn’t stop during those long animations I mentioned above, enemies benefit from this broken ATB much more than I possibly could. I never said I have a problem with the Ability system. And my god comparing Trance to FFVII limit breaks is atrocious. They are nothing alike, besides the fact that they charge when damage is dealt to the characters. Trance never works, seriously I mean NEVER. Whenever you get the chance to use it, it activates on it’s own. Yeah that’s nice. Whenever that happens I’m just finished killing the enemies. Not to mention it’s mostly useless. Steiner’s Trance just gives him extra damage. WOW!!! Unbelievable! WOULD BE 100 TIMES BETTER IF THEY DIDN’T EVEN HAVE IT!

The ATB isn’t always the problem. The biggest problem is that the animations for EVERYTHING (I really don’t understand why you thought I meant summons, which now that I think about it is no reason to bitch as I can just avoid using them), but I’m sorry when the characters take 5 seconds EACH to execute an attack command, like get over to the enemy attack and go back, and it takes way longer than that to use a simple Cure spell, I think my complaints are justified. The ATB just makes things worse. I have to just stand there for about 30 seconds in each and every fight to wait for someone to execute a command and then get their ATB full. Serisously they’re all so slow it seems like they’re on drugs. There are no nice and fast animations like in VII and VIII. For a simple Cure spell or potion I need to wait for a pillar of light to slowly envelop my character from top to bottom and then some more while I wait till the HP change is applied (all this while the ATB is running like nothing’s going on.

Good enough for you, now?

He hates the length of summon animations (which we’ve explained, can be turned off) he hates how slow the standard ATB goes (which we’ve explained, can be turned up)

Yeah summon can be turned off, magic no… ATB turned up?, How?

Yeah summon can be turned off, magic no… ATB turned up?, How?

He basically means it can be made faster. But you know as much as I do that that doesn’t do jack.

It doesn’t seem to take that long when I play it. And I’ve played it a lot. With ATB at regular speed as well.

Well, once you get Haste, waiting becomes redundant.
I’m not wanting to start an argument, it’s just that, you seem to passionately hate an RPG because you have to wait a bit.

Commonly you have four characters in your group so if you just spread their turns out evenly, you’d almost be constantly doing something.

Sure, some bosses get several turns before a character of yours does, but that appears in most FFs. FFX gave you the luxury of being able to see the turn order, which I kind of liked but knowing if you’re going to be able to get a character healed up or something before the bosses next attack takes away some of the challenge of being prepared for any formality.

Smarty at least seems to love the game a fair amount, but just focuses too much on the few negatives he’s observed. All games have faults :3.

The one thing I’d say they did well on with FFIX’s battle system, at least indirectly, is make sure by the end of the game, characters aren’t boasting 9999HP. They’re still able to do 9999 damage but they’re still at least prone to being defeated by a series of unfortunate attacks.

Which is probably why Necron’s Grand Cross is his most feared attack. (In before topo mentions how long Grand Cross takes ;>).

But I shall now fire up FFIX and crank up the ATB speed to see exactly what it does. I may find you’re right and it doesn’t really speed much up.

EDIT: Oh come on! By default… that bar takes around 10-15 seconds to fill up… yet on fast it must take only around 5 seconds or something. Which is easily fast enough. I admit, the battle was nicer as it did get beaten quicker, but to say that turning it up to fast does nothing is just a lie.

I mean… if it was any faster… Haste would seriously be pointless.

EDIT TWO: I didn’t see Smarty’s meaty post above, but whilst I see what you mean… I also can’t recall any FF that didn’t prominantly use animations and such. Sure i’ve only played VI, VII, VIII, IX and X, and VI shouldn’t really count due to it being from the 16 bit era, but all the games have had spells that take an age to cast.

I mean, every time Safer Sephiroth would cast Super Nova, i’d go to the kitchen and make a sandwich. I’d say that Necron’s Grand Cross takes longer than the Doomsday spell. And Grand Cross’ animation time pales in comparison to Super Nova whilst we watched a meteor destroy every planet except Earth in the solar system, impact into the sun, wait for the sun to inflate, then wait for it to inflate over our characters… then wait for it to finish it’s flashiness and then tell us that it only did about 5-6k damage.

Admittedly yeah, spell animations are a little longer playing out in IX… but we’re talking mere seconds… nothing to cataclysmically hate a game for 😛

I never really cared too much about having to wait, but I’ll be damned if that Trance bar’s ridiculous reset after battle, whether used or not, is about the most annoying thing in the whole series for me. And as many know, I LOVE FFIX.

why don’t you marry it then! lol nah. dude, the fucking airship in IX is what I MUST build soon.

I’m all for opinions and such and it’s fine for people to hate games. I just feel that all the mentioned things can easily be over-looked.

Sure, it’s not the greatest thing, but no game is perfect.

Focus on the good-points! 😛 No use crying over split-milk yata yata.

I never really cared too much about having to wait, but I’ll be damned if that Trance bar’s ridiculous reset after battle, whether used or not, is about the most annoying thing in the whole series for me. And as many know, I LOVE FFIX.

I second that.

The trance was one thing I truly didn’t like about the battle system. But i eventually just looked at it as a bonus when I finally did get it and could use it, esp during a boss battle.

I generally ignored Trance and fought bosses with skill 😉

wasn’t there a way to turn Trance off? methinks there was…

wasn’t there a way to turn Trance off? methinks there was…

Yea, you could hit Defend or Guard or whatever it is in that game, for 2-3 turns, and Trance would go away! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

But no you can’t have a game with no Trance. (One of the last bosses is TRANCE Kuja).

Or you know, you could throw a potion with Trance on.

Or steal.

Or die.

Or run away.

/duh

What’s with labeling every FF main guy as an "emo?"

What’s with labeling every FF main guy as an "emo?"

Ignorance.

Ignorance.

Intelligence.

Because the characters looked emo.

Zidane was probably the least emo main-character for a fair while tbh. He has a bit of an emo-spasm when he learns he was actually created by Garland to be a Kuja Mk II Angel of Gaia Death, but I mean… at the start of the game he’s a womanizing thief who’s quick to add humour to almost everything.

Cloud had returned to Midgar as a failure because he was lying through his teeth that he’d not only been recruited into SOLDIER but was a 1st Class. Then on his quest to hunt his arch-nemesis Sephiroth down for more or less, incinerating his mother to death in her home five years ago, he fucks up protecting Aeris and so blames himself for her death.

Squall meanwhile, lived a life of solitude and a reliance only on himself since Ellone, who was his sister I do believe (it’s been awhile)… had to flee for her own safety (I think… she was either taken by or…went with the White SeeDs didn’t she?) whilst she cared for him (or at least visited him) at the orphanage… so Squall, already an orphan… had believed that he had been abandoned once again.

Tidus, had daddy issues. Angry that he’s never good enough for his old man’s standards and just… basically that I think. But my wisdom of FFX’s plot is less than the other’s i’ve played as it was a great big mindfuck 😛

So I could see why some main-characters could be seen as "emo", but at least Zidane… is no way one of them :P, he’s too busy being the pimp of Lindblum.

plus Zidane was fucking metal. what with long mop.

I really did like the airship/black mage scene. It’s just that I didn’t have a PS1 memory card when I first played FFIX (apparently PS2’s can play PS1 games but not save their files)…so I saw it like 100 times.

[QUOTE=RedMajesty;1437599]Tidus, had daddy issues. Angry that he’s never good enough for his old man’s standards and just… basically that I think. But my wisdom of FFX’s plot is less than the other’s i’ve played as it was a great big mindfuck :PQUOTE]

Tidus was more cheerful toward the beginning of the game when he was more ignorant of how Spira operated.

i loved the whole fuckin game.

My favorite final fantasy next to VI and probably equal to VII.

I like FFIX’s battle system because unlike the last two games, your characters were actually different instead of them being essentially blank slates you equiped magic or materia to with only their stats and limits truly setting them apart.

I also liked how you learn abilities through equipment because rather then just go for whatever equipment is the best, you sometimes have to equip armour and weapons which aren’t as good as others you might have in order to learn the abilities.

The one thing about FFIX which I cannot stand is the horrible, HORRIBLE Trance system, it really does suck. You have no control over when you get it and all you can try to do is get your Trance near the top before a boss battle which you can easily mess up and the fact that your trance can fill up right at the end of a battle and be wasted is ridiculous and the trance meter can be depleted by actions such as using a damn potion, which if you set your character to do before his trance filled up, wastes a turn.

I beleive that the Trance system should have only been depleted if you did a move that directly influenced it’s ability, like attacking with Steiner, using one of Zidane’s specials, using summons with Dagger or casting magic with Vivi.

I like FFIX’s battle system because unlike the last two games, your characters were actually different instead of them being essentially blank slates you equiped magic or materia to with only their stats and limits truly setting them apart.

I also liked how you learn abilities through equipment because rather then just go for whatever equipment is the best, you sometimes have to equip armour and weapons which aren’t as good as others you might have in order to learn the abilities.

The one thing about FFIX which I cannot stand is the horrible, HORRIBLE Trance system, it really does suck. You have no control over when you get it and all you can try to do is get your Trance near the top before a boss battle which you can easily mess up and the fact that your trance can fill up right at the end of a battle and be wasted is ridiculous and the trance meter can be depleted by actions such as using a damn potion, which if you set your character to do before his trance filled up, wastes a turn.

I beleive that the Trance system should have only been depleted if you did a move that directly influenced it’s ability, like attacking with Steiner, using one of Zidane’s specials, using summons with Dagger or casting magic with Vivi.

Very well said. Whoever thought that the Trance system as it is HOPEFULLY got fired, because it does suck�royally.

I think SE owes it to us devout fans of the game to mend that little error before releasing it to PSN (unless they already did and I wasn’t aware).

I think SE owes it to us devout fans of the game to mend that little error before releasing it to PSN (unless they already did and I wasn’t aware).

They will only be releasing an unmodified port, not a whole revamped HD Version…so they probably won’t/can’t modify the game in it’s current state.
Besides, Trance is more tactical – it forces you to try to end battles quicker, and preserve using your power-up more conservatively so that you can use it at a more relevent time.

For me, personally, I actually have no problem with it, since it’s essentially meant to represent the effect of an incurred emotional physiological reaction to a dire situation.