And it makes me wonder whether I should get that or get the SNES "Final Fantasy III" as I had been planning to for years.  I used to own FFIII on the SNES a long time ago and was thinking of picking it up again, to go through it again as well.  But now with the 'improved translation' on the GBA... I don't know!  But regardless its good news nonetheless!

It would likely cost you significantly less to pick up VI Advance than to pick up III '94, and you'd get the new translation, increased difficulty (i.e. fixed exploitable bugs) and a bit more content. I think the dip in sound quality and minor emulation issues are more than made up for, especially if you already played the SNES version. I know I'll be getting it soon enough... but I still need to finish V!

I'm approaching with caution...Having seen FFVI for PS1 in action and FFIV for GBA, I'm doing well for myself to be cautious.

what other exploitable bugs would there be besides the vanish/doom combo?

i imagine most of us here have played ff6 enough times to be able to whip through it even if we did restrain ourselves from using those tactics...

personally i like the emulator version so i can fast forward through the extra level-building battles and enjoy the story in a shorter time.

I'm not entirely sure what to expect so I'm being cautious. I know the Advance version has slowdown and obviously, the music isn't nearly as good as the SNES version... but there's the added content and the portable equation. I liked the old translation so I'm not sure what to think of the new one. We'll have to wait and see.

in the newest Nintendo Power magazine, they gave it incredible score - 9.5.
I'm pretty convinced that translation is superb(even though sound will be of lower quality as to expected).

The big one is that Evade% doesn't do anything -- MBlock% handles both physical and magical evade.

-Joshua

Nothing beats playing the original on its parent system (unless it's really flawed, which FFVI isn't), but you waited this long, so heck yeah get FFVI Advance.  FFV Advance rawked technically and in terms of additons, so there's no reason why this game won't.

I beat the game (FFIII US) once, a long time ago, and am looking forward to playing FFI-FFVI and am curious to see what I think of the series now (also, the only other FF I ever liked was Tactics, I really couldn't stand FFVII Anyway, I never knew about any exploitable bugs, so out of curiousity fill me in! How many bugs are there and what do they do?

cheers,

-avatar!

edit: fixed typo

Sure there is.  FFV Advance was ported in-house by Square-Enix themselves, while FFVI -- like the flawed FFIV -- was handed off to TOSE.  And it shows.  Many towns and dungeons have trouble keeping up a proper framerate when traversing, the overworld in chocobo/airship mode looks atrocious, there's scattered slowdown in battle..... And NPCs FREAKEN DON'T TURN TO FACE YOU WHEN YOU'RE TALKING TO THEM ANYMORE.

Of course, one can claim that perhaps it's because FFVI is more technically advanced is the reason it has trouble keeping things together.  But it's my belief that if the game was placed in S-E's hands, and they were given more time, it might have turned out for the better.

Angela, I think you killed my interest in FFVI Advance.

If anyone's interested in the huge list of bugs in the original FFVI, check this out:

http://masterzed.cavesofnarshe.com/GameDocs/ff3bug.txt

This could be said about any number of sites on the internet, but dude has too much time on his hands.  I don't recall any of the bugs/glitches listed on the first part of that page (before I got tired of reading it) ever affecting my enjoyment of the game.

As for FFVI Advance, I don't intend to touch any new version of FFVI unless it's clearly very near to the original in quality or better.  Worse music = no way.

"To much time"? Remember this list was culled over probably years, mainly through not just his contributions but others who hacked the game and made its code dance.

But it's quite fascinating to read through the whole thing, as there ARE a few things than can mess you up if a speccific thing happens, like the enemy using Rippler on Shadow -- you'll never get Interceptor again.

-Joshua

Well the music simply isn't going to be as good. That's a technical impossibility so there are some things that have to be forgiven if you're going to entertain the idea of FFVI on the GBA.

I had the misfortune of buying the US version of FFIV Advance only to find that my local version that came out later sorted some of the problems. While that may not happen in the case of VI, the fact that these problems could be sorted at all would tell me it shouldn't have been released until it was ready. I really want a GBA version of FFVI, but I'm holding off until I see if anything is improved when it hits other regions.

And I think Angela is right - if this hadn't been handed off, we probably wouldn't be seeing these problems.

The only thing that is obvious about that is that this dude needs to get laid.

Where have you read this?  I've seen no indication anywhere that FF5 wasn't done by TOSE.

I apologize, as that wasn't my intent.  I still plan on picking up the game myself, because it's freaken **FINAL FANTASY VI** on portable - but I felt it necessary to make aware the inevitable problems that the port entails.  Honestly, they're not enough to deter me personally from enjoying the game, but it is frustrating to think that such a fan-favorite like FFVI is getting a treatment that's less than ideal.

A little birdie told me. >;)  Actually, I've sort of been sworn to secrecy on the details (as is the TOSE way) by a fella close to the source, but I will tell you to take a look at 1up.com's recent feature on the company.  Fifth paragraph down:

http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3156447

Ok, cool.  I had it preordered, so I guess I'll still pick it up (tomorrow, right?).

Wow, Gun Survivor and Virtua Fighter Quest...

That's a heaping helping of doo doo that this company has served up over the years, I'd say.

However, I will also say that I personally didn't notice all of the flaws in the gba port of FFIV.  I liked it enough to completely clean out its optional, after the finale, bonus dungeon.

Unfortunately all the extra goodies you get from it doesn't really mean much once you've stomped out the last of the bosses.

I do plan on getting FFVI, but I am dishearted to hear about all the flaws.  I found it to be completely unplayable on the PS1. 

Add in the fact that I haven't finished FFV yet, and I just got Hotel Dusk (awesome game, btw) I have really no need to start a new game now.

Just as a side note, while speaking of ports.  Which on the PS1 had worse slowdown/etc FFVI or Chrono Trigger?

Wouldn't be the first time (cough FF Anthology cough cough).

I don't recall either port having serious slowdown. Both of them had awful load times though (especially CT).

NOOOOOOOOOOOO.....actually FFIV advance wasn't that bad despite the criticism it's received.  I would have been content if FFV Advance had been on the same level as IV due to the GBA limitations, it's just that V surpassed expectations.

FF6 is my favorite FF, but I was still on the fence about getting FF6A because: 1. I don't have time for RPG's anymore; and 2. Ever since I played the SMB2 port for the GBA, I've always been wary about games being ported over to smaller screens (or at least screens whose dimensions are different from "normal" TV size).

But, well, in the end I did preorder it. So yeah, that's just me.

As for someone else's questions about which FF Chronicles port has the worse slowdown, I'd say both of them were equally bad. Mainly because I've become used to having NO slowdown at all, so ANY delay was quite noticeable to me.

Tose did indeed work on FFVa. Link is a .rar of screenshots from the staff roll.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=1F9XRSWV

I'm kinda surprised FFIV A turned out poorly?  I remember reading good things about it and it even interested me to want to get it... I mean, I hated F.F.II on the SNES, mainly because of the translation, the visuals, and the fact the music restarts after every battle.  It seems the graphics were improved to (actual) SNES quality and the translation was cleaned up, and I can't imagine that they wouldn't fix that music thing, considering its 2006 (or whever it was released.)  So what is wrong with it??

I guess Angela said it best, it is Final Fantasy VI on portable!  But now I'm really sceptical and a bit confused :-P  I don't know, maybe I'll eventually get the SNES one as well (eBay prices have already dropped since the PSX release so maybe they'll go down even further.)  I guess we'll see once one of us actually gets to play the GBA game to see how it compares (the downgraded music worries me too, and it would be instantly noticible to anyone, I mean ANYone, who ever heard the original music considering how awesome the original is!)

.... Well, I guess there's no two ways about it:  I got PWNED.  Could that little birdie have been wrong?

This does raise new questions about the contrasting port quality between these games, though.  That both FFV and FFVI were released roughly the same time could suggest that they were worked on by different teams in TOSE; or maybe FFVI really was that much harder to port properly.

I'm sorry for the mislead, guys.  I really am.

Well, I would hardly say that anything TOSE touches is necessarily bad, in any case... Super Princess Peach is still a blast and one of my favorite platformers on the DS.  They do seem to vary in quality... I wonder if this normally has something to do with how much fundage the owners of a franchise are willing to give them to work with.

^ Agreed.  I'm near the end of World 6 on Super Princess Peach and have enjoyed it so far.

From what I've played of the US version of FFVI Advance, it seems okay. The battles seemed slow... but I put in the SNES version and they chugged along at the same pace. I'd say my biggest complaint is the oversaturation (everything is just too bright) and the music is butchered. Thankfully, the new translation is very good (and retains the best parts of the original) and the game is still as fun as always.

... man! I still haven't beaten FFIV or FFV Advance!

Edit: Alright, I've played some more and what Angela said is pretty much on target. The overworld (both walking and Chocobo riding) is a mess, with lag and awful graphics. Battles can get very chuggy if there's a lot of enemies on screen (or massive spells are being cast). And the music, oh god, the music...

The SNES version remains the definitive one for me.

On the oversaturation - what are you playing it on? If it's oversaturated on a Micro or SP model I'd call that a problem. A DS Lite will burn your retinas out if you're not careful. That just wasn't designed for GBA games.

Yeah, but what are the odds S-E will finally put something out on the Wii VC and that it would be Final Fantasy VI what with this version out on the market?  I have the GBA one, picked it up today, but have yet to open it.  I'm going to play through Rogue Galaxy first and see if the complaints of FF6A justify even keeping it.

They took out Kefka's "Son of a Submariner" line. This is basically the worst thing to happen to translation changes in the history of the universe.

Man, you guys are harsh.  I'm loving this so far, minus a few very small gripes.  There is, of course, the music issue, but I never expected it to sound quite right on the GBA.  The battle slowdown isn't frequent enough to get on my nerves, nor am I bothered by the world map or chocobo riding.  I guess my only other compalint would be using Sprint Shoes and running at the same time, which makes things super-choppy, but this was an issue with FFV on the GBA too.  Oh yeah, and the new translation is fantastic!

Jeez, that stinks.

This is kinda hedging into the realm of OT, but given we are talking about ports here...

Did anyone here catch news the S.E. is doing remakes of the original FFs for the PSP?

It was news to me, until I saw this article on Game Watch Japan.

Here's the homepage, and from what I can read from it, it seems that the two will be a mix to the PS1 and GBA versions, with the intro movies, in "high def", the bonus dungeons from the GBA games, a music player, and redrawn sprits.

I guess S.E. just wasn't content with the DS having a revamped, exclusive FF.  Or maybe Sony growled at them for not spreading the love to the PSP.