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avatar! Jun 26, 2008

Maybe more like 4 weeks, but very soon anyway. So... thoughts? In general I'm not a fan of linear story-driven games (like most FF), and prefer free-exploration games like Morrowind. However, FFIV does hold a special place in my heart. For it's time, I thought it was certainly groundbreaking (at least for a console game). It had nice graphics, a great (although simple by today's standards) storyline, cool characters, all kinds of different places to explore (the Moon!), and of course great music! Will it hold up today? Some people will say yes, but despite the fact that it's a classic, I really have no desire to play it again. That being said, will the DS version be similar and yet different enough to keep the old flame alive? I don't know... I will say that completely random battles like there used to be in those games is more a hassle now than anything else. Hmmm, on the other hand it will be awesome to hear everyone talk (I want to hear "You spoony bard!" smile Anyway, I'm predicting the game will get very favorable reviews because it's a classic FF game, and because everyone wants it to be great... but who knows. Anyway, your thoughts?

cheers,

-avatar!

Angela Jun 26, 2008

avatar! wrote:

Anyway, your thoughts?

I think your post was so roundabout, that I'm still dizzy from reading it.  o_O

I'll certainly be picking it up, though I've got my reservations.  FFIII DS left a pretty bad taste in my mouth, what with its absurd difficulty, slow pacing, and even slower battles; at least the Famicom original moved things more briskly in its 2D format.  My main fear is that FFIV is going to fall within these same trappings, and if that's the case, me thinks my days with FFIV has effectively ended with FFIV Advance.

Idolores Jun 26, 2008

Angela wrote:

FFIII DS left a pretty bad taste in my mouth, what with its absurd difficulty, slow pacing, and even slower battles.

Glad I'm not the only one who thought so.

longhairmike Jun 26, 2008

I'm in on that too... FF3DS sucked,, I cant believe i wasted almost 30 hours on that thing. even at the end i still didnt give a rat's ass about the characters,,,

XLord007 Jun 26, 2008

Idolores wrote:
Angela wrote:

FFIII DS left a pretty bad taste in my mouth, what with its absurd difficulty, slow pacing, and even slower battles.

Glad I'm not the only one who thought so.

Count in me in for this train of thought.  I will buy FF4 DS for the nostalgia, but unless it blows me away, I'll probably just play it for an hour or so and then shelve it.  I read somewhere that they made the game even harder, so I'm definitely not looking forward to that part.

Wanderer Jun 27, 2008

Yeah, the bosses are definitely tougher in the remake. The random battles are probably about the same (and just as much fun as they've ever been). I'm definitely going to grab the game... but honestly, I've played through FF4 so many times (in so many different formats) that I'm not sure I'll play through the whole thing.

Amazingu Jun 27, 2008

Agreed, McCall.
I played the Japanese version too, and it was horrible.
I did pull all the way through though, cos I'll be damned if I let an FF game get the best of me.
It was NOT a lot of fun.

But then, this has been my stance on FFIV since the first time I played it, so I don't know why people like it so much.

(Actually, I do. The American SNES version was considerably dumbed down from the insanely hard Japanese version, making it actually playable. Wonder if they'll be doing the same thing for the DS version...)

Wanderer Jun 27, 2008

(Actually, I do. The American SNES version was considerably dumbed down from the insanely hard Japanese version, making it actually playable. Wonder if they'll be doing the same thing for the DS version...)

I wouldn't count on it. The DS remake is harder than the Japanese SNES original. Since they didn't dumb down FFIII DS, I don't anticipate IV getting the same treatment.

TerraEpon Jun 27, 2008

Amazingu wrote:

(Actually, I do. The American SNES version was considerably dumbed down from the insanely hard Japanese version, making it actually playable. Wonder if they'll be doing the same thing for the DS version...)

Both the PSX and GBA games used the original difficulty, which isn't "insanely" hard, outside a couple spots perhaps. The GBA one ended up having that ATB bug which rendered it easier (but outside of some bosses, still harder than the US one). I'm pretty sure the DS one is supposed to have similar difficulty as the original.


-Joshua

Jay Jun 27, 2008

For me, I really like FFIV and think a remake will make for a much better game than 3 did but I think I'm all classic FFed out at the moment. It's not long since I played through IV again on the GBA and I just don't think I could go for it again.

Carl Jun 27, 2008

avatar! wrote:

... (I want to hear "You spoony bard!" smile -avatar!

They worked that quote into one of the Ace Attorney games, where the judge got accused of something and he replied "What? I'm no spoony bard!"

Angela Jul 23, 2008 (edited Jul 23, 2008)

So I picked up FFIV DS, and I think I've made pretty decent progress so far.  Yes, it's a much harder game than any version before it, but I've been able to scrape by without much incident.  I'm not actively level grinding, but I am making sure to fight every battle while partaking in the quite enjoyable map completion feature.

And then I get to the Mom Bomb on Mt. Hobs.  She does the self-destruct which wipes out my party two times over my max HP. 

What. The. f---.

Wanderer Jul 23, 2008

^

Wait until you encounter the elementals. FFIV DS puts the pain back in boss battles. wink

GoldfishX Jul 23, 2008 (edited Jul 23, 2008)

Keep the updates coming! I'm considering this maybe...Guess they got tired of people like me complaining they wussed down FF1 when they brought it to GBA.

How did they do the Rydia's mom scene, just curious?

Qui-Gon Joe Jul 23, 2008

Yeah.... sounds like they made it difficult to the point where it won't be fun for me anymore.  Probably gonna skip this one.

Wanderer Jul 23, 2008

GoldfishX wrote:

How did they do the Rydia's mom scene, just curious?

Pretty well, actually. It's one of the scenes that is voice acted and aside from a cheesy yell of rage from Cecil, it's intense. Rydia's "I HATE YOU!!!!" is especially memorable.

SonicPanda Jul 24, 2008

I don't have issues with it being more challenging per se; after I play FFs often enough I ramp up the speed on Active Mode to achieve the same effect. But I watched a few videos of this, and it's so friggin' slow...they completely ruined the awesomeness of the battle where Rydia returns to save your ass with that, and that's plain unforgivable. I wonder if S-E is doing CT DS in a more straightforward manner because they realized this engine sucks so damned much.

Angela Jul 24, 2008 (edited Jul 24, 2008)

GoldfishX wrote:

Keep the updates coming!

Well, I got past Mom Bomb; never would've thought to use "Defend" after all.  Even then, Yang was the only one left standing.  Thank god his "Kick" technique is so damned effective now that he wiped the floor with the six remaining Bombs.  Next up is Milon.... I mean, Scarmiglione.  And Wanderer, your warning is scaring the jeebus outta me.

As for the rest of the game, I'm digging it so far, surprisingly.  As said, the map completion thing is pretty cool; the actual inclusion of dungeon maps makes it a far easier affair to traverse, find treasures and the proper exits.  It's true, the battles are much slower; I popped in FFIV Advance just to check it out, and even with its menu and off-timed battle glitches, it's still unbelievably zippy by comparison.  All the same, if you afford yourself to spend a bit of time with the DS version, and you kind of allow its groove to work on you, the slower-paced battles is something you get used.  Placing the battle speed to its fastest setting moves things along, and then it almost feels like you're playing FFIX. 

There are a couple of minor annoyances I was quick to pick up on, though, such as not having the "Memory" feature where the game remembers what menu commands you chose last.  Especially in battles; it automatically resets back to "Attack" after each character's turn, which is irking when you take into consideration the ample number of new commands added from the Augment system.  Another quirk is that you can't change the message speed in battles, which might be what SonicPanda was alluding to.  Like an in-battle piece of dialog will be playing out, and each box blurb takes like a good six seconds to play out.  Even short pieces of dialog like, "What? Anna?"  And, while it's nowhere as bad as Advance, there's still a slight pause delay between menu navigation and menu input that doesn't make it feel as quick and intuitive as the original game.

Regarding the Augment system, I haven't accumulated a whole lot at this point to pass complete judgment, but I'm not too keen on the idea that once you assign an Augment skill to a character, then they're permanently set to them.  Does that mean that once they disappear from the game, the Augment disappears right along with them?  All the same, I've been careful to assign Augments to party members who I know will be with me by the end, such as Cecil, Rydia and Rosa.  It's a no-brainer to set the Augment "Counter" to Cecil straightaway; he's becomes an awesome force to be reckoned with.

But the best thing about the DS version?  The overworld/dungeon themes pick up exactly where they left off after a battle.  At last I can finally hear "Main Theme of FFIV" all the way through without having to stand still.

EDIT: And is it just me or does setting the ATB to "Wait" instead of Active not work at all?  Even when you're in a battle's inner-most menus, enemies are still attacking.

Idolores Jul 24, 2008

McCall wrote:

P.S. I would be Square's slave for a year if they would release a remake of FF4 with live music and Ys II Eternal - quality hi-res 2D graphics. *floats away to never never land*

All I want is a redone Xenogears. I think everyone has their Square-related wish, though big_smile:D

XLord007 Jul 25, 2008

I played about 1.5 hours of it so far and got to the part where Rydia joins Cecil in the Desert town.  So far, I like it well enough, aside from the difficulty (died many times so far).  They've made the battles run a lot faster than in FF3 DS, which is good, though they're still much slower than the 2D versions.  The dubbing's not terrible, and I too miss not having a "command remember" option.  I also noticed that the Wait mode doesn't seem to stop the enemies from attacking, but I haven't compared it with the Active mode to see if there's any difference.  As Angela said, the map completion element is very cool, but I'm a little irked by the lack of info the menus give you.  I realize that the original game gave you no help at all, but is it too much to ask to tell me what an augment does before I equip it permanently?

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