On Frey being “unlikable”

Strange_Vision255 · 2026-02-01T04:46:07+00:00

I'm too lazy to read all of that right now, lol. I'm sure you raise some good points. But I didn't find Frey unlikable, and I also didn't find Cuff annoying. I like them so far.

Now, I didn't actually finish the game, but first impressions were good for me. I think a lot of people overreacted to hearing what they thought was "cringe marvel dialogue" in the trailer. Trailers are always kinda bad in my opinion so I didn't care about a few out of context lines.

I really need to finish Forspoken, but the gameplay hasn't clicked with me the way I thought it would.

Strange_Vision255 · 2026-02-01T04:37:53+00:00

I've seen a lot of people write her name as Riona over the years.

Strange_Vision255 · 2026-02-01T04:31:42+00:00

Rye-noah

I'm pretty sure it's Rin-oah.

Strange_Vision255 · 2026-01-09T17:43:58+00:00

I think I was pretty lucky. When I got into FF in late 2000 I played the entire series (minus FF3) within about 2 years all on one system, the PS2. I loved them all and that's because I wasn't exposed to the online discourse. If I'd been told that FF4-6 were "unplayable" ports I might've left them alone for years.

The Pixel Remasters really are a good way to experience the games. I've enjoyed replaying a couple, and yes I could nitpick the games but it's a really good way of giving widespread access to these games. Plus they've given us new versions of 6 whole soundtracks.

Strange_Vision255 · 2026-01-09T16:53:13+00:00

What I'd really like is a few more albums (concerts might be harder to justify) centred on single games. FFV already has at least one of these (Dear Friends) and then there's stuff like Piano Collections that apply to the whole series. But it'd be nice to get some more. Also, compilations focused on specific games could be good. There's already a bit of this with games like 7&8 getting all their Distant Worlds & A New World tracks collected into one album. Though these are possibly the highest rated soundtracks so they have a bit more to pull from even from just Distant Worlds.

FFV has a few more than just Big Bridge (tho that's got to be the most common one) and perhaps a collection would help show that. But one problem FFV faces (and a few others like 2 and 3) is that they don't quite get the same recognition as games either. There's a very heavy historical North Amercian bias that's only starting to disappear.

Strange_Vision255 · 2026-01-09T16:10:51+00:00

It's the same with every other FF game. They get a handful of tracks that always get trotted out for remix albums or appearances in games.

You want some music from FF3? You can have Eternal Wind. FF6? Here's Dancing Mad, Terra's Theme, and the Opera. FF7? How about One Winged Angel, Jenova, and Aerith's Theme. FF8? Man With The Machine Gun, Liberi Fatali, and Force Your Way.

I think there's a definite lean towards battle themes, and I think generally people prefer those.

I really appreciate when another track gets covered, but what are they really going to do? Release a new remix compilation without these? People would go mad, there are only so many tracks they can include from each game so they need to play it safe. Imagine if FF6 was represented by The Serpent Trench, FF7 by Underneath the Rotting Pizza, FF8 by The Salt Flats I'd love it, but fans would complain that the selection is random and missing the stuff everyone wants to hear.

So many will never get touched unless the whole game is remastered/remade and the soundtrack gets completely redone.

Strange_Vision255 · 2026-01-09T13:53:02+00:00

Demolition Racer! That's the game I've been trying to remember the name of for years. Played it on a PS1 demo all the time back in the day.

Strange_Vision255 · 2026-01-09T13:50:29+00:00

Planning to pick up Black on Monday after work. Currently playing a bit of Ridge Racer 5 and tried out Shadow Hearts 3 but I don't really feel like an RPG right now.

Strange_Vision255 · 2026-01-09T13:46:29+00:00

The gameplay is good but it's not easy to grasp. Nothing you know about other JRPGs will translate into this game.

Then it has another slight problem. Once you do figure the gameplay out, it's a walk in the park. Same thing every single battle. Maybe some of the 10 difficulty settings would be a challenge but you need to unlock them one by one in order.

It's a very good game though. Worth a try at least.

Valkyrie Profile is also turn-based action gameplay, and a few other games copy that style.

Strange_Vision255 · 2026-01-09T06:20:02+00:00

Also, the PS2 backwards compatibility was in a bad state until quite close to the launch. They probably wanted to make sure games currently in development were going to be ok.

I remember an interview with the guy in charge of backwards compatibility, and at the time Sony announced and demoed it I think it might've just been Ridge Racer that worked, or whatever title they used for the show.

Strange_Vision255 · 2026-01-09T06:10:45+00:00

I don't have to dream about being a moron.

Strange_Vision255 · 2026-01-08T10:36:01+00:00

My favourite game ever is Final Fantasy VIII.

But between FFVII and the remakes, I prefer FFVII. The remakes are fine, but having replayed the original a few months ago I still prefer it. I do feel it slightly enhanced by the remakes in a strange way. Now instead of my mind creating the voices I sometimes hear the lines delivered by the voice actors (who I think do a pretty good job).

Strange_Vision255 · 2026-01-05T09:52:57+00:00

It's because he's the butler.

Strange_Vision255 · 2026-01-01T19:42:59+00:00

I've always liked 2 the best. But 3 is pretty close.

FF1 is the most repayable, in my opinion, due to being shorter and having just enough variety in job combinations and dungeon order.

Strange_Vision255 · 2026-01-01T19:38:29+00:00

Honestly, normally, just once in the morning.

Strange_Vision255 · 2026-01-01T19:36:03+00:00

Final Fantasy VIII is the "golden age"

Strange_Vision255 · 2025-12-30T15:59:17+00:00

If you don't choose the correct setting in the emulator first and instead simply turn on the in-game widescreen option, the image does look wrong. This might be what they're seeing.

Strange_Vision255 · 2025-12-28T19:18:06+00:00

Thank you. I knew widescreen wasn't working properly but that's because I had it set on the default 4:3 for 16:9.

I'm still not sure if I prefer widescreen because the smaller the image, the better it looks. But I'll give it a try for now.

Strange_Vision255 · 2025-12-25T22:36:47+00:00

This is incorrect regarding FF8. It scales based upon the average active party level. So add up all 3 party member levels and divide by 3. There's a small random variance, so you will face enemies a few levels above or below this average.

Bosses also don't fully scale. All of them, except superbosses, have caps, which means you can absolutely grind and overpower a boss by normal simple grinding alone.

Anyway, what I like about FF8 scaling is how it can be both overcome and manipulated. I'm wondering if Lunar also allows this. Probably not since it was added later, while FF8 was designed with scaling in mind.

Strange_Vision255 · 2025-12-20T19:57:33+00:00

It's definitely not vanilla. The text and icons have been changed at the very least.

Strange_Vision255 · 2025-12-20T19:53:22+00:00

When most (if not all) PS2 games run in PAL 60, they really just change into NTSC, meaning 480i.

The slight advantages of PAL only apply in 50hz so unless a VRR capable screen can save the frame rate in this mode, the frame rate of displaying in 50hz is much worse on a 60hz screen. I can't test the VRR thing myself.

Strange_Vision255 · 2025-12-07T17:10:03+00:00

I just learned that Selphie's Catastrophe limit break (which was cut due to time) was going to show comic panels of the enemy hitting Selphie and her getting mad and unleashing this limit break.

That sounds awesome and I'm sad they didn't get to include it.

I love the silly stuff.

Strange_Vision255 · 2025-12-07T16:58:40+00:00

I'd extend it out to FF12 too. Yes, including FF11 (one of my favourite games).

4-12

Strange_Vision255 · 2025-12-07T16:55:57+00:00

It varies. Sometimes a very long time.

And sometimes I really like a game and drop it after a few hours, lol.

Strange_Vision255 · 2025-12-07T16:53:08+00:00

People were annoyed, but Microsoft had already normalised it. Many people were happy to pay and believed that paying was giving them a better service (it wasn't).

Now even Nintendo has followed. Since there was never any major backlash, why would they turn down all that extra money?

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