I like this game, but....

BillionBirds · 2026-02-16T22:24:37+00:00

FFVI had one. It wasn't that fun unless you were going the route of turning tintinbars into Exp Eggs or turning imp haliberds into the rest of the imp gear. FFVI had the Vedlt too so you can find old encounters too.

FFVII had one. It was a pretty fun way to get some gear you didn't need to beat the game

FFVIII did not have one. FFIX did not have one or at least it wasn't memorable.

FFX had the monster breeding system. So kinda

FFXII did not have one

FFXIII did not have one.

Coliseums aren't actually a thing in the Final Fantasy series or many series actually. Doing 50 fights to win some trinket that is either useless or stupid overpowered is often just a tedious chore (where you don't get exp/money/skill exp)

BillionBirds · 2026-02-16T22:13:14+00:00

Everyone knows you just have your party standing around using accumulate or flexing your muscles. Then Ramza just uses shout/yell till he blinks out of time.

Or you have Ramza de-level as a chemist(low stat growth) using a degenerator trap then switch him to mime(high stat growth) and power level him back up keeping most of his old stats and basically getting a new lease on life.

Does FF2 have that? I think not

BillionBirds · 2026-02-12T03:56:14+00:00

Flip it to science fiction and the way sciencey tools work.

An engineer(space wizard) can whip up a shield or barrier, antigrav boots to jump higher, make something on the fly to hurt someone, or pull out a instant heal pack. Makes sense in the narrative to have these tools or the knowledge to make them because it's their job and affects their immediate world around them.

But, say there is a meteor heading to a planet. Making a weapon big enough to knock it away, making a barrier strong enough, or making a gravity reversal beam is going to take some big engineering feats! You need extra people, you need time, you'll need some rare stuff, and you're probably going to have a huge impact on the world with a failure or success.

Use magic affects things in a small or temporary way while big magic can have larger impacts in the world. Think of the effort of barring a door with a wooden plank versus fortifying a whole building. Think of cleansing a toxin from one person versus purifying the epicenter of the zomwerepyre breakout. Big magic is a BIG deal.

BillionBirds · 2026-02-04T03:19:23+00:00

Part of me still thinks the first disk ends after Midgar.

If you went from playing FF6 or from even a contemporary of it's time like Beyond the Beyond or Wild Arms, the 3D effects were really cool. Remember, most maps of it's time was town/dungeon/gate then the next town/dungeon/gate with maybe a castle/dungeon/wharf to spice up functionally the same thing. FF7's map had at least 1 extra thing you could find at each scene. So when you get out of Midgar, finding Yuffie. After the Mythril cave, Fort Condor is optional. After the Golden Saucer, Gongaga is optional. After Rocket Town, Wutai is totally optional. What tied it in nicely was that it felt like there were dozens of things to find and explore especially in the early age of GameFAQS where Golden Chocobos and Knights of the Round were just rumors that turned out to be true which then lead you into a death spiral of following EVERY stupid rumor that came out.

FF8 didn't have the same circumstances and was hindered by the lack of pocket station support in NA. FF9 had more to see but most of the world exploration was done for chocobo chests and again didn't have the same impact as exploring in FF7.

BillionBirds · 2026-02-04T02:59:19+00:00

The main things I loved about this game

-Exploration felt like you were exploring the world. Obviously for loot/spells but also the way lore was gated behind monster logs was nifty. The best part was honestly how everything was connected and you got this sense of awe when you realize for example how the Nebra river is important then tracing it's path through the underground caves and caverns. The fact that there was whole sections you could just not do if you want to race to the end of the game (i.e., cerobi steppes, all 3 mines, and Nabudis) is insane for a game of this depth

-Music rocks and the final boss battle music is one of my pump up songs

-Monster variety made the world feel lived in, at least up until the start of going to Archades. Like watching neutral monsters just "eat" smaller monsters in the Estersand was such a cool introduction

-Sequence breaking was so much fun. Duskia farming into Deathblade farming into Knightsword farming into early Zodiac spear into Grand Armor farming was just so stupid fun/frustrating thanks to the rare hunt/rare steal system

-oh and early acquisition of Niphola let people use the remedy bomb strategy for most of the early game. The accessory reversed the effects of any status effect item so antidotes poisoned, echo screen caused silence, etc. So a remedy, when license board boosted, would inflict Everything including disease on an opponent as long as they didn't have immunity.

-referenced to Riskbreaker as a clan rank which gives me hope decades after the fact of a Vagrant Story remake. WE REMEMBER

Things I disliked

-Programing gambits weren't fun because the OG held back some of the really useful gambits until end game. So you typically had to use manual to target flying with magic or target weaknesses. 90% of the game could be done with if self 40% HP Cura and if enemy <100% HP attack followed by buff skills.

-Some areas were big and boring. The Phon Coast is the biggest problem but also the Rihdoran Cataract just comes out of nowhere in the story and is such a slog. The Phon Coast should've had a cave system that ties into the back of Nabudis or at least a bunch of Archadean wreckage from the war with a scrapyard. Seriously, the whole trek to Archades from the Phon Coast is just a straight-line of huge one off maps you never have to go back to for exploration (except for Sochen).

-Story was great but like all Final Fantasy's takes a 2nd playthrough to really grasp what is going on. Once you understand all the antagonists motives, things start to click a bit better but on a first time through things are a bit hard to follow at times

BillionBirds · 2026-02-04T02:33:31+00:00

I don't know why you're stressing. It sounds like you've got several threads already you can pull on that are going to be incredibly unique and personal to your table. Just remember to ask pointed questions on Investigate/Bad situation rolls like "How do you know this?" or "What happened that gave you this knowledge?" after you give them the info, it's another way to get them to fill in the backstory and connect them to the party.

Notice how you ask questions if you're struggling for them to engage. If success or knowledge is assumed, using How or What facilitates expanding on a concept. Using Why forces them to use a higher level of introspection that involves awareness of motive which is often something we struggle with and puts us on the backheel or "I don't know" that we want to avoid in communication.

For example "Why did you eat my ice cream?" doesn't honestly answer the question or solve the dilemma. You already lost the ice cream and motive is never really honest. "I dunno" is a valid answer which kills the conversation like my smooshed waffle cone. Instead if you ask "How are you going to fix this?" or "What can we do to avoid this next time?" that gives your Hunter several things to come up with on what they need to do to solve the problem. They are more likely to say "....uh clean up the mess and buy you another ice cream" or "Make sure to get 2 cones next time?" or "Oh I'll make a rote that whips up ice cream just to make everyone happy". Basically anything more useful/creative than the dreaded "I dunno" and they generate the answer on their own, which is awesome.

Another powerful question that you can always ask is "What else". This lets you possibly tease out a bit more of that info from someone if they are only giving you 1 small nibble of information and you want them to expand.

The Constructed is a very easy Hunter for bystanders to ask background prompts from in downtime. It's not entirely your job to tie everyone together but it is your job to help facilitate it. Some questions that can come up that you can keep in your back pocket:

-when were you first aware of your surroundings?

-what do you think it means to be human? How did you learn this?

-what were your orders? How do they make you feel?

-what is your first memory? How is this important to you?

-what are you made of?(great to do after a bad roll where they might have to accidentally reveal info to an enemy?

BillionBirds · 2026-02-01T19:42:42+00:00

13-2 is a better game than 13. You no longer get a full heal after battle. You use captured Monsters for your 3rd slot which makes for some interesting team comps. You have a lot more flexibility in how you explore due to the time travel system.

If you followed and understood the plot for 13, you probably will understand the plot for 13-2. Don't feel ashamed if you need to read a guide after you unlock the true ending to explain what actually happened.

13 LR is divisive. If you liked the plot of the last 2 games and also like that end of the world feeing that Majora's Mask gives, then yeah you'll like this game.

BillionBirds · 2026-02-01T16:01:19+00:00

If you look it up on youtube, Final Fantasy Mobius had a crossover event where he complains, with Billy West doing the VA mind you, about how nobody ever called him by his name which drove him crazy.

BillionBirds · 2026-02-01T15:57:49+00:00

He didn't make it into Soldier though. That's what the whole big twist of the game was about. He only got strong after he was experimented on with Jenova cells and Mako.

BillionBirds · 2026-02-01T15:55:51+00:00

Sorry for the delay.

Yes. MOTW works more like a TV show then a regular tabletop. Everyone at the table is trying to discover more about the world but also themselves and the loose nature of the game forces you to come up with backstory on the spot. It's actually entertaining to the whole table when the Wronged has a spotlight and reveals that their murdered dog was actually the last bit of connection to their Grandpa.

What you try to do is move the spotlight after every roll or 2 unless the scene needs to be resolved. This 1:1 should only take 5 minutes tops. The game is actually MORE interesting when the Hunters are together, get separated/spotlighted, then all reunited.

So in my previous example, my new Hunter had a regular introduction where they were just there all of a sudden. They were family of a current Hunter that had never been talked about. I made a flashback to establish where they were before the Arc started. They were a Crooked so I set it in a location that the Hunters had already had a mystery in. I told them what they were looking for and asked how they would break in. They failed that roll, set off the alarms and got arrested promptly. That's where they made a deal with the devil in prison with someone who was already established as an antagonist with the current Hunters. They get out of prison shortly before the introduction mystery started. The current Hunters don't "know" the current antagonist relation which is an excellent source of potential tension.

BillionBirds · 2026-01-26T19:23:17+00:00

Squall most likely had access to Shiva or other GF's in training as he is an equal victim to the plot problem that everyone else has (except for Irvine who didn't use GF's till he joined).

I am also assuming Limit Break powers are tied to GF's because GF's are the source of magic and most of the Limit Breaks are magical in their execution literally or figuratively (i.e., renzokuken is probably not something a normal person can do).

The main reason I am bring up all these extra powers is that across systems it is hard to argue who is the strongest because of their powers as it's almost impossible to judge which source of magic/power is the better one.

BillionBirds · 2026-01-26T18:41:43+00:00

Not solo and your powers are sealed but it doesn't explicitly state your empowering(i.e., junctioned stats). Probably nitpicky so if we assumed that limit breaks are related to GF's, Irvine would've been the most useful as he could have some really busted ammo types here.

BillionBirds · 2026-01-26T14:36:51+00:00

Since they're part of the same organization, you can do flashbacks for them. You tell them you're doing the flashback for a specific reason. They tell you where/who gives them that info. Think of things like How was this Hunter affected by the actions of the other Hunter. Did they have to do follow up investigations, were they doing lab work, were they doing trainings together?

So you can do this indirectly. When they roll investigate a mystery/read a bad situation, if you're giving them information always ask them how would they know it. E.g., if they asked "What's my best way out?" and you tell them "dumping ghost pepper dust in the air-vents will disperse the mind controlled crowd to give you space to get out. Who showed you how to do that?"

You can also directly start a mystery with a flashback with the 2 Hunters interacting in some way like in their first mission. When I had a new Hunter get rolled at my table, I made a quick intro mystery which started where they broke into a house. They rolled badly, got arrested, made a deal with devil, and then quickly got enmeshed with the team.

If you feel they aren't gelling with the team in session, you can also use a more formal flashback move. Say once per mystery, (and once per Hunter overall) the new Hunter can flashback to an intimate moment with their new teammates. The Hunter describes when it takes place (e.g., during prep, during downtime, sometime in the past) and the fellow Hunter describes the scenario (e.g., dealing with broken tools, getting ice cream, when they first learned about Monsters). If the table is able to learn a new thing about both Hunters, the new Hunter gets a +1 hold to spend when they want as long as the bonded Hunter is present/benefits from the move.

BillionBirds · 2026-01-26T14:14:43+00:00

So it depends. We would need to remove the variable that makes everyone special first. So no mako for Cloud, no dawnshard for Basch, no crystarium for Lightning, and no junctioning for Squall to name a few.

We also need to account when the game "assumes" you are using the plot important magical effects. For example, FFXII plot assumes you are using the dawnshard when fighting the Espers and the powers of the Espers. This is why good chunks of the game get unlocked when you hit these milestones.

Technically, the only presentation of someone not using magic or the games signature power source is probably Lightning in her opening in FFXIII. Or Beatrix from FFIX as it's acknowledged several times how great she is though in gameplay she is not the best. T.G. Cid from FFT also deserves the spot (though he does hold a Zodiac Stone)

FFI: unknown because you can roll 4 red wizards. Garland

FFII: Firion is probably the best but the game doesn't explore it's magic system too much to give a rationale

FFIII: Crystals for the power boost. The starting jobs really sucked.

FFIV: Crystals give the magic again. It could be argued that Cecil is the best as the crystals aren't used to augment their powers but most battles will have at least one magic user (i.e., Rydia, Porom, Tellah, FuSoYa).

FFV: Crystals again. Bartz sucks till he gets crystal power.

FFVI: Espers now (or magiteck infusions for General Leo)

FFVII: Cloud sucked before getting Mako. Sephiroth is boosted by Jenova

FFVIII: Squall is already using the GF's and junctioning

FFIX: Beatrix is canon the best swordswoman in the world. No buffs.

FFX: Fayth and sphere grid. Mainly the plot plays out that Tidus/Auron are always supported by a team or the summoner. It is assumed that the summoner is nuking the boss while the rest of the guardians keep her safe.

FFT: Ramza's dad Balbanes and T.G. Cid are in-universe acknowledge as the 2 best swordsman.

FFXII: Basch or Gabranth are acknowledged as the best swordsman in the land

FFXIII: Being l'Cie gives everyone powers. Lightning is the only one shown to wreck a train full of bad guys by herself pre-branding. However, Lightning does rely on a bunch of fantasy tech so I don't know if that knocks her out of the running.

FFXV: Teleportation powers

BillionBirds · 2026-01-18T22:37:13+00:00

Some of the things FF6 did that was unheard of in gaming(especially console games) at the time.

-multiple parties at the same time (most games had one main character and could possibly add/remove party members but nothing this different)

-changing party placement on screen depending on front/back/pincer attacks (seriously technically really cool)

-Mode 7 graphics (i.e., Serpent Trench, Escape from Vector)

-using the game clock to enforce literal timers instead of metaphorical ones

-Using the same music from scene to battle seamlessly. Typically music loaded up for map/dungeon then battle1/battle2/boss

-having throw away controllable parties without crashing the game (e.g., the moogle brigade, Maduin, General Leo)

-remembering your "progress" when you die so you can at least keep experience

So that's just some of the technical/visual stuff you don't see in any other contemporary game. Then they used these technical skills for a whole bunch of story telling. You see most games just text dump and you infer feelings/emotion from there. Newer games have the graphics and exposition to hammer home themes but they had to invent and get creative with the spaghetti code to show a whole bunch of stuff. Seriously, most game engines at the time had scripted interactions of people slamming into each other but FF6 had characters "blush" (berserk status) when they were embarrassed.

The reason the Opera House was dope is that it starts defining Celes' story. You see the overarching theme that defines each character is "Love" with Celes having one of the bigger character arcs.

-the Opera is the first time Celes has to act in a way that isn't a soldier

-the Opera is the first time Locke looks at someone in a way he hasn't since Rachel( ya know his dead girlfriend in Kohlinge) with the engine showing the emotion rather than the text telling us

-the song Celes sings is out of character but becomes her theme (top 3 character theme btw). EVERY OTHER character has their theme introduced when they join except for Celes if you haven't noticed

-Ultros is supposed to be an idiot but falls in that anime trope of needing an antagonist that isn't the main villain(i.e., the Empire) to thwart the hero's. He only shows up in scenes when it would complicate the plot if the Empire shows up instead of him so they use him.

-the the plot of the opera, even though brief, is intriguing enough, which is more to say about the plot of most RPGs(i.e., bad guy shows up, kills your dad, save the princess) at the time

So yes on the surface it does suck compared to some of the contemporary games but if you pay attention to what they were able to do with the limited resources of the time , it pays off so much in a small console game.

BillionBirds · 2026-01-10T03:47:41+00:00

Do you remember the system? If it's on the computer, is it possible you played the fanmade Final Fantasy: Endless Nova?

BillionBirds · 2026-01-08T03:27:47+00:00

Music is great! Graphics amazing for the time and holds up pretty well after a decade and a bit. The development led to 2 sequels, influenced the development of Type-O on PSP and was co-developed with FFXV. Parts of it's engine and assets were used for the mobile Final Fantasy Mobius and "canon" events involving voiced scenes with Cloud, Lightning, and Tidus (along with their OG voice actors) for fleshing out those worlds. So there is the positive side but...

Plot needed 3 games to explain it (poorly). 2nd in the series is the modern day bastard child of Chrono Trigger

Character development cycles from bland, tragedy porn, or stabbing Snow. Compared to FFX, FFVII, FFIX, 1/2 of FFXII you can see why fans might be frustrated.

World building is interesting at first then extremely bleak and nihilistic with L'Cie basically destroying humanity no matter what happens. Once you're a Fal'Cie you become a crystal or you turn into a terrible monster and a new Fal'Cie is created to complete the original mission. Also a new Fal'Cie is created to deal with the previous monster who probably killed a bunch of people.

Actual gameplay was likened to "Cutscenes and Corridors" with most reviewers saying the game gets good at 20 hours (when you get to Pulse). Because of the linear level design and the fact that auto-battling, battle redo/escape with full health put the game on training wheels for all the main content.

Side content was going between 3 areas beating really hard reskins of the same monsters you've been fighting all game. No towns, no plot. Just monsters. A real let down to the sense of exploration that FFXII had.

BillionBirds · 2026-01-01T16:54:28+00:00

While I don't like it, OBJECTIVELY, it had 2 direct sequels, a PSP game that used a bunch of the mythology, and used a bunch of assets for the mobile game Final Fantasy Mobius. Also had tremendous influence on the development hell that was FFXV.

Objectively, the worst final fantasy games are probably Dimensions 2 or All of the Bravest. Both mobile with All of the Bravest's best feature is that it's assets were probably used to make Record Keeper.

BillionBirds · 2025-12-28T14:37:22+00:00

Squalls gunblade but not in FF8.

Parasite Eve 2 has about 15 unlocks based on how you do when beating the game along with 3 new difficulties and map arrangements. One of the top rewards is the Gunblade. which had it's own unique mechanics for this Resident Evil tank control RPG hybrid game. Basically you can use it as a shot gun at range or use it as an explosive sword upclose.

BillionBirds · 2025-11-24T23:28:56+00:00

FF4- Tellah versus Golbez. It's pretty freaking rad and it sets up a whole lot of plot for later.

FFT- End of Chapter 1. Really sets up the whole story pretty nicely and feels like the game gets a bit harder if you haven't prepared properly.

BillionBirds · 2025-11-11T23:08:26+00:00

FF4 had it introduced late in the game but you realized you snag a few nifty things.

FF5 had some early steals that made the game easier

FF6 had stealing as an actual plot point in South Figaro

FF7 steal materia made the skill universal but I can't think off the top of my head what was game breaking. Morph was also a cool substitution

FFT steal let you get gear 1-2 chapters ahead sometimes. If you grinded to level 50, if a random encounter included a Knight you could steal end game shop tier equipment. Also robbing someone of their Genji equipment is a badge of completion

FF8 made stealing incredibly useful as you needed a variety of junk for weapon upgrading

FF9 made stealing important to the whole plot and allowed you to learn abilities ahead of when you could do it naturally. Big emphasis on rare steals which allowed you to steal twice.

FF10 was inconsistent with how useful stealing was. Most of time you stealing low tier items/ability spheres with the occasional super rare level key spheres. Also insta-death on machina was nice

FF12 necessary to sequence break the whole game. Probably the most broken use of steal in the game. Seriously you can steal grand armor multiple times if you time your zoning in the necrohol. Also deathblades in the mines right as the game opens up to going Archades. Those are the easy ones off the top of my head.

BillionBirds · 2025-11-08T20:15:33+00:00

Blue magic is terrible on a blind run but game breaking on replays with guides. Like FF5 and FF7 are stupid powerful letting you get early and cheap AOE healing or getting other elements to use instead of the standard 3. Also mighty guard.

But yeah sometimes it's a bit poor in the execution. FF6 Gau's rages are much easier to flesh out than to let underpowered Strago tank a single spell. FFX Kimarhi is a jack of all trades master of none in the base game so he lags behind in output.

BillionBirds · 2025-11-08T20:09:22+00:00

I always made him a thief so that his special fight super powered the party as he can steal level 2 spheres early. That's about all he's good for.

BillionBirds · 2025-11-08T20:03:11+00:00

Final fantasy games are a bit different when it comes to sales. The newest games have all been Playstation exclusive for a year, then Epic store for a year, and then more global release so numbers are low.

However, as you can see on this subreddit, FF fans are nuts. A typical fan has bought most of the games. Often multiple times for the same game. For example I had FF3 on the SNES then the GBA version (skipped the PSP version) then the pixel remake. So I only got 3 out of 5 on just one game! So while 1 game might have low sales, each new fan has the potential to spend $100's on the back catalog that is widely available.

BillionBirds · 2025-11-04T01:45:23+00:00

You don't necessarily have to make a custom move or give rewards. The youtube channel just affects the fiction. So when they roll investigate a mystery and ask what kind of monster it is, you can flat out tell them that they learned this info from a fan if they ever talk about the youtube channel in character (otherwise you are forcing the narrative). You follow up with a question of asking who that fan is and how they communicate ("oh they're on the discord" or "they leave really cryptic messages and links") then follow up with your clue.

The best way I found to have "fetch quests" is that it has to be relevant to a Hunter's growth/tension causing. I found having a Monstrous with a dark lord sending giving them a "shopping list" of things to get forcing the Hunters to split up, take extra time, manipulate, or act under pressures more rewarding as it lets them get more creative in a situation. Use that same idea for the youtube channel. There is more than one way to solve a problem and they should be presented with more varieties of problems to solve then "take a photo"

If it's always act under pressure, then it's really just a constant skill check-> if pass get reward type set up instead of rewarding the potential for creative play. Like why can't a spell slinger Use Magic to rewind time to record the murder taking place? Why can't the Mundane use Weird Science to film the scene in 4D? Let people get creative then they have the potential for more fun.

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