Haven't watched this yet but I can't wait to hear nothing but compliments for the best game ever made, Final Fantasy II.

@CoolPorygon

4 ай бұрын

I'm excited to hear some bad things about it. I always hear about how broken the leveling system is. But I played through the game as an idiot child on release. It can't be that hard. And I've only gotten stupider. Are people just playing it and thinking too hard about leveling or something?

@Drayze1

4 ай бұрын

@@CoolPorygon No one ever complains about the right things. The issue isn't training by beating yourself up (something you never ever have any reason to do), it's that speed levels at a rate determined by evasion%, and evasion% is based entirely on your shield. So if you're an idiot child who thinks shields are dumb and makes everyone dual wield (hi hello yes that's me), you can end up at the final boss without ever gaining a point of speed on anyone.

@ProfessorBopper

4 ай бұрын

Tragically, I wrote myself into loving a lot of FFII that isn’t the trap rooms. I feel like part of me was lost in the editing room

@shytendeakatamanoir9740

4 ай бұрын

@@Drayze1 It's either with shield (or Main Gauche if you built dagger), or by not wearing anything. Both are kinda counterproductive (and PR adding back magic interference makes it somewhat worse) The DoS remake (not sure for the original) only shows defense and not Eva on the Equipment screen, so it just makes it worse to do informed decision. Anyway, no one ever got any Agi level in my first playthrough as a result

@Drekal684

4 ай бұрын

@@ProfessorBopper There are things other than the trap rooms that I don't like. The world map being so open that you can trivially wander into the Mysidia area ten minutes into the game is a big problem I have with it. If I had a genie that, for some utterly bizarre reason, let me make wishes specifically about the design of this game, the first would be to get rid of trap rooms, the second would be to alter the world map to something more balanced. The third one is a tossup between "make Ultima a more worthwhile reward", "fix the balance on the weapons system" and "spread out the various towns throughout the game a bit more so the back end doesn't feel as barren". Don't get me wrong, there's a lot I do like about the game as well... but those flaws, man. I can't help but see them.

6:45 I appreciate you talking about the manuals. A lot of people nowadays critique old game based solely on what they are ignoring the manual entirely, forgetting that manuals were an integral part of the experience at the time, you were expected to read them and often lack of memory could explain why some infos were not in the games. I think the value of well crafted manual is really underestimated, great manuals were entertaining to read, gave useful info and often encouraged you into a certain mindset when playing the games which could really help with the experience.

I'm not completely sure how to put this, but I'll try. I really love how your reaction to having the thought "hmm, [media] reminds me in some way of [completely unrelated media]" isn't to just stop there, or dismiss it as a random connection forged in your english teacher-pilled sunconscious, but rather to go deeper, to tell everyone about it, to make it make sense. like sure! the evil god that was secretly behind it all *IS* just like grendel's mother! final fantasy 3 *IS* an epic poem! you don't just tell us what the plot is, you have a thought and you go off! it's really good essaying. more importantly! I am done with the sewing! I had to finish without you, but I finished. I now possess the coziest and cutest housecoat on the planet just in time for it to get just a little bit too warm to wear it. ok that's not true, I got a couple weeks out of it. still tragic.

I'm still not completely sure how I beat Final Fantasy III remake many years ago... it's probably my most notable gaming achievement xD

@shytendeakatamanoir9740

4 ай бұрын

I cheated for the DS version. First of all, I had a cheat to save everywhere, but I was simply unable to defeat Dark Cloud normally. I had beaten the NES version (with usage of the Sight glitch, but all it gave me was money. And moderate save state usage), but it was somehow way harder. I played again in the PSP version, with the help of plenty guides, and even defeated the secret supeboss after a copious amounts of grinding, but it wasn't fun. Feeling punished for experimenting with jobs in such a game is a failure of game design. Also, Sage and Ninja not being failsafe anymore the way there originally were was a massive blow. Comparatively, I loved PR so much, I platinumed it, got everyone to level 99, and then played again a year or so later with a whole new build (including a Ranger and a Scholar, which is actually pretty strong in this version if you invest into it).

"A reprieve from Gulliver's Travels core" goes so hard. Good for FF II. It gets that now. NES Final Fantasy is the era I know the least about, but even with the caveats Bopper responsibly laid out, FF II stands out in my head as something special now, especially given it's being the first title in the series with named party characters, that was a cool surprise.

@shytendeakatamanoir9740

4 ай бұрын

Learning why I love Dragon Quest games with a Gulliver comparison was the last thing I expected out of this video, but I'm glad nonetheless

@blueberriesinmycoffee1234

4 ай бұрын

​@@shytendeakatamanoir9740 I haven't played any Dragon's Quest yet! Is there one people like people to start with? Oh, and regardless good to hear!

@shytendeakatamanoir9740

4 ай бұрын

@@blueberriesinmycoffee1234 The main issue is that most of them aren't easily accessible, or not the favorite version. That aside, Dragon Quest III is very good, but it's better after playing DQ I & II to really get how it was so influential. There's a version on Switch, if you can get behind the graphics (I know it's a turn off for some. I appreciate the QoL though). They're the easiest recommend, with the caveats DQI & II hasn't aged the best. They're part of the original trilogy. DQVI was my first, and it really exemplifies that "Gulliver's travel log" quite good (probably the best after DQIII), at the risk of lacking structure. It's also more introspective. It's not a title most would propose, but it has a special place for me. It also has a Job System, kinda like in FFV. Dragon Quest V is just really good. An epic tale that sprawl multiple generations. Also, the hero is a monster tamer, and you can recruit plenty monsters (of various usage) to fight for you. I also need to mention VIII and XI, but XI is really an anniversary title. VIII is an excellent title, and the first released in the west. Not sure how useful all of this is, honestly. The original trilogy would still be my main recommendation, depending how much you tolerate/appreciate older games.

@ProfessorBopper

4 ай бұрын

I’ll second the switch versions of I, II, and III. It’s the only way I’ve played II and III and I loved them in that version (I’ve beaten I on OG hardware, the NES Dragon Warrior edition, and it’s not the most time friendly game). I think XI works really well as a stand alone game even though it is an anniversary title, as you said. I also recommend VIII. It’s the first one I played and even though the 3DS version gimped the music, I loved my time with both the PS2 and 3DS versions

@blueberriesinmycoffee1234

4 ай бұрын

@@shytendeakatamanoir9740 Understood, and thanks to both of you! Being a fire emblem fan has stealthily increased my tolerance regarding accessibility unpredictability in long running game series, so this information is more helpful than daunting. Dragon Quest V sounds cool enough that I should probably encounter the first three first like you say, both for their sake and to get the right context going into V. Thanks so much, again!

Hey Bopper, I don't usually leave comments but I have to now. I'm only 15 minutes in but it's been clear to me that you had a gift for content creation since the first time I watched a fire emblem analysis video. Thank you for all the high quality content!

crazy. just beat finalfantasy 1 today. second final fantasy game I've played after mystic quest (best game of every decade might I add)

Thanks for making these videos. I'm gonna watch this and all future ones multiple times for sure. The first 3 Final Fantasy games are incredible, and it's only somewhat because of my bias for old RPG game design that I say this. I've played at least 3 versions of FF1 to completion, beat the pre-pixel remaster mobile version of FF2 (it was based on the playstation release iirc), and got systematically crushed by the 3d version of FF3 both as a kid when it was my first and then-only experience of FF, and as an adult who finally went back and beat it only after getting nostalgic for it after my friends got me into FFXIV. Hot dang. FF1 is a guilty pleasure. Any version of the game with traditional spells-per-level system over MP is okay in my book, it's annoying but it's how the game was balanced, even if the balance of the game falls apart once you get the Gauntlet and subsequent spell spam items. I've gotten to Chaos with 4 black mages (still haven't *quite* beaten him yet), pushed around the game a dozen times, abused the "peninusla of power" to make the swamp dungeon a joke (which is otherwise one of if not THE hardest dungeon in the game imo), and more. I only wish I played a version that had the bonus content from Dawn of Souls, which was sadly stripped from the mobile release. FF2 is... it exists. It gets more hate than it deserves, but it still REALLY deserves hate for those "what were they even thinking" dungeon designs. So long as you aren't on the NES version where you lose stats for making certain actions then you're probably fine. I tried to complete the side story of all the side characters but it starts out WAY too hard for someone who hadn't played in years to come back to and get out of the first dungeon on. Maybe someday. As for FF3, the 3d remake is... well, it exists. The difficulty curve is basically non-existant until you hit a spike and then the spike will grind you into dust. I remember figuring out that, on the mobile port, if I hard-closed the game before I got to the "game over" screen it would place me immediately before the fight I was last in, so I abused that to the World of Darkness and back before realizing I straight up just needed to grind for 20 levels before the Cloud of Darkness was even possible to beat. There's a reason the hardest boss in the game is usually an optional superboss or a side quest boss and not the actual final boss - Cloud of Darkness is proof of why final bosses shouldn't be the be-all-end-all, especially being THAT much more powerful than anything before. Though maybe I shouldn't say *anything.* Cerberus getting 3 attacks every round was stupid, and since the game had no true way to influence initiative it was *great* when he got 6 attacks in a row because he went last and then first, doubly so when he killed both my healers and left me to rot. Screw you, FF3 Cerberus, you're the only bad dog.

@shytendeakatamanoir9740

4 ай бұрын

The funny thing is that FFIII DS also has a superboss that requires insane amount of grinding. It's as much of a nightmare as you can imagine. So much of the game design decision they took are absolutely baffling tbh. And it resulted in the game being way harder than the original.

I've always wondered what Japanese audiences thought about Gulliver's Travels. It's a fantastical story, but it's also a satire. It also treats Japan as being as magical as Liliput, Laputa, and Brobdignang.

Wasn’t expecting my lunch to be over an hour long but I’m here for it

I never got around to playing Final Fantasy 4, but after playing Live A Live and seeing the impact that the director, Takashi Tokita, had on FF4 and the series as a whole I bought it recently and I'm looking forward to playing it. I'll have to rush so I can get it done in time for your next video!

The comparisons between epic poetry and Final Fantasy were really cool to hear. Great vid, can't wait to see the rest of the series

You really deserve more views. Your videos are both insightful and entertaining. Keep at it!

bopper more like gamer

Very good video! I’ve watched plenty on old final fantasy but I’m a big fan of your analysis and focus on the games as art primarily. Looking forward to the next part!

I don't have much to add because this covers pretty much all of my feelings as a big fan of the NES/Famicom Final Fantasies, but I just want to touch on the technical side of FF3. It was released in 1990, the exact same month as Fire Emblem 1. Anyone who's played FE1 knows how clunky and frustrating it feels to even move units around and navigate menus, and everyone seems to chalk it up to the game just being an old Famicom game. To anyone who believes this, just play a translation of the Famicom version of FF3 and think again. FF3 shows what was truly possible on the Famicom. Honestly, it feels and even looks almost like playing a SNES game. I truly cannot believe FE1 and FF3 were made for the same console. FF3 is just such an underrated game to begin with, but it also just feels better to play than a number of games that came out around the same time. (sorry for fanboying but FF3 deserves it)

damn, guess I gotta play every game in the franchise now

What timing! I've been playing through the series in order, and just finished FFIII.

Been waiting for this! Just picked up the entire pixel remaster collection myself! It's gonna be interesting seeing all these games in a different light!

@rezterralico4369

4 ай бұрын

Getting the pixel remasters when a larger discount is offered. Manly to play FF3 with the charges.

Oh wow, you're not wrong about Kentucky. You were talking about dial-up internet and I was just thinking "wait, what year is it?". Because, for me, dial-up and Final Fantasy makes me think of FF7. My family would get a Gateway PC with Windows 95 in 1997. A few months later, I would see the 7th game for the first time and become so obsessed that I had to use this new fangled internet phenomenon to look up anything and everything I could about it. I would even spend hours downloading a short clip with 144p quality just to get a glimpse of gameplay of the title.

Not hearing anything new here. Still loving every second of it. Thank you 🎉

I recently got the Pixel Remaster to relive the childhood days of the GBA remakes, and had a pretty great time. 3 wound up being one of my favorites too, and I really enjoyed your stance on it as a whole. The comparison to Beowulf is unexpected but very effective, and it puts a meaningful spin on the common complaints regarding Xande and Cloud of Darkness. Honestly, this deep dive into the narrative and structural intent of the games is refreshing. This might be the first legitimate praise I’ve ever heard for FF2, and you’re right, the constant changes to the map are really engaging, and the story can be a wild ride when you meet it where it’s at. Looking forward to more of this series, and especially to my personal favorite, FF12.

Very excited to watch this Professor Bopper hit

gdi, I have work soon - but your Onix/Pokemon vid was so good that this has to be an insta-watch once I'm done. Here's hoping I'll have a more substantive response then.

I cannot wait for when you get to 5, that one's soooooo good.

Two ended up much better than I thought it was going to be going in. The open world exploration part of it was unexpected and quite good. The main surprise with three is just that it was better than four

subscribed for your fire emblem content and am pumped to see you doing FF. good stuff, like to hear ff2 discourse besides “muh leveling system”

Wow I was not expecting such a literary analysis. I look forward to following you. Also I lived in Kentucky (outside Lexington) for several chunks of my life so that was a neat coincidence too.

this video is good it's making me want to play through FF keep up the good work

They cancelled the WonderSwan version of III pretty early in, if I had to surmise, it probably was a time issue, where they wanted to hurry up and get versions of IV, V, and VI. I can't see it being a technical hurdle or a localization issue since they managed to get II and V. That said I love this video! Really love how you worded your defense of the early titles and scratch some brain itches on some possibly deeper metaphors you can draw

Never seen your channel before But the algorithm didn't disappoint.

Good job. I liked it.

The interesting thing going from FFII to FFIII is hearing the devs discuss their surprise at how players were out there gleefully cheesing FFII's mechanics. The idea of having your party attack itself to build up stats didn't sit well with them, which is in part the reason they went back to the simpler and more linear levelling system for FFIII. My biggest gripe with FFII's mechanics was that moment when I found out I had to level up Esuna before it'll even begin to cure the status ailments my party is currently afflicted with. It's like getting a parachute and being tossed out an airplane only to learn that it will only deploy if you pull the cord about 40 times.

There are a lot of games that ran where FF2 walked. The SaGa series, of course, but also the Elder Scrolls series and so many others.

This was a great retrospective, I don’t have the patience for older games tbh so it’s great getting a look from someone who does lol

I'm currently replaying through the game with the PR version. Glad to see III getting the attention it deserved. It's the only one presented here where I completed the NES version (and as such played through every available version of it), funnily enough. And yeah, the PR version is really my favorite. It gives nearly every job a uniqueness, which the original somewhat failed at (so many class just got low level White Magic, including the Dark Knight), while making switching jobs on the fly actually easy, and even fun, which the 3D version actively punished you for doing. Otherwise, yeah. It was really interesting, and since next era has some of my favorite titles, I'm very excited to where it's going next!

This is unfortunately timed for me as I'm playing through the series right now but when I finish, (which is probtably going to take a _while_) I'm definitely gonna go back and watch this because I like your content!

I was introduced to the franchise by the OG NES Final Fantasy. And I've played quite a few of them since then. I do enjoy a video laying out the OG game's and the remakes' strengths and weaknesses. It may not be the best game (and it may not have held up especially well) but it still holds a special place in my heart. I had not considered until now, that perhaps every instance of me giving up on the game and restarting represents a timeline in the game wherein Chaos won. Final Fantasy II gets a lot of undeserved hate. Like the first, it may not be the best game, but it experimented and tried something new. Gotta respect that. I have played through and defeated Final Fantasy III on DS and the fan translated Famicom version. Both have their quirks, both have obvious strengths and weaknesses. I enjoyed both versions thoroughly. I went through the DS version and was able to unlock the Wandering Smith and the tiny EX dungeon, and used that to grind out a full set of Onion Gear for my group. In the FC version I just glitched the Onion Gear into existence. I consider it time well spent in both cases. Also, in my mind the characters in FF3 are named Luneth, Arc, Refia, and Ingus. This is a hill i will die on. Anyways, great video. I'm looking forward to more.

I fell absolutely in love with the DS version of III, and I got really good use out of Scholar until Evoker/Summoner unlocked

Not big into Final fantasy but excitinly waiting for when in the future you get to talk about the funny cat in ff7

I really have no relationship to this series (my most played entry is Tactics Advance), and I’m not even sure I’ll ever play them. But I’m stoked you’re making these, and I look forward to watching them as you finish!

You're my latest youtube discovery :) your stuff is great!

just realized you put the NFL theme in the background at 31:02 THIS IS WHAT WE PLAY FOR!!

BOPPERRRRRRR this video rocks !!!! As someone who has never played a final fantasy before, i am getting tempted to pick them up please don't tempt me to pick them up I don't have the time for it 😭😭 I'm learning so much about gaming history, thank you for all your hard work !! ❤

@chiveskirk

4 ай бұрын

The pixel remasters were recently on sale. The first three games are quite short. Only about 20-30 hours each if you want all the achievements.

20:54 ye i am glad you included this line in the video

Thought this was an LP for a sec. Almost missed this video. I love your videos, and how you can flip flop between silly things and being like "if you think about it final fantasy is a lot like 17th century peasant literature"

Phew so great hearing the comparisons to literature phew thats what I watch ya for! Hearing your mind being blown at FFIII's map. Phew yeah I can see why you felt the need to play all the game at that point. Greatly looking forward to listening to the rest!

Played FF3 on DS and loved it! I think it's very charming with its cute 3D graphics and cutscenes, also the music is as great as ever, if not even better, in the new instrumentations.

Battles being an interactive cut scene, I think that definitely applies for more games than you mentioned, but maybe you meant how they expand upon it? One of the highlights of FF9 is this (you're not alone), I feel almost more so than any of the other games. It's also used a lot at the start of the game, either it be the theater scenes at the start, the scene with the bomb when they leave the castle, or when you gotta save characters that is taken prisoner.

A quick note that I find cool, but might be a bit too far afield - the magic in D&D is based on Jack Vance's Dying Earth series, where spells are so complex and powerful that you can only hold maybe a couple in your brain at once. Layers of inspiration.

I kinda thought this during stray Colloseum or Gale of Darkness streams I caught where you were deep in your FF hole, but you are very good at conveying what is cool about these games. Excited for more from you, and now the FF2 remake where they DO let you rizz up the lamia queen

@ProfessorBopper

4 ай бұрын

Is it Dawn of Souls that lets you do that or the PSP version?

@Profecy02

4 ай бұрын

@@ProfessorBopper it has to be the PSP version because the ESRB rated it more maturely

The Al Gore Rhythm really wanted me to watch this and has won you a subscription

The scholar class is back in both mmorgps.

I can't wait for 6.

I just found your channel a few weeks ago, and now you upload an hour long essay about the history of a gaming? I am home

I enjoyed this video but I swear to god if you get me, generally a jrpg hater, to pick up Final Fantasy after just in the last month I already replayed gen 1 and gave Fire Emblem another shot because of you...

I will never forget one LP I read on FFII, and will always share this when I see a video on it. Y'see, the original NES version of it was really buggy. Obviously, right? Well, this particular LP had abused the heck out of the Toad spell, which is the best insta-death spell in the game. It works by turning monsters into toads, tripping an animation of them hopping off screen out of the battle. It hits way more frequently than anything else. Obviously bosses (especially the final boss) were immune to those kinds of spells. It's no fun if you spam them and just happen to get it eventually, right? Well, there was a way around it. Cast a decently high level Wall on him. Then cast a *low* level Toad. This does something really interesting. You see, bosses don't have a resistance to the Wall spell. Why would they? It's normally a very positive effect. Protection from enemy magic, great. But when it does reflect a spell it trips the "hit" animation off the target, before it rebounds to hit its new target. As the toad spells 'hit' animation involves the enemy monster hopping offscreen, it also activates the 'defeated' variable when it is run. So the act of Wall bouncing the Toad spell... causes the Emperor to dissolve on the spot. The game thinks you beat him. This only works in the original NES version, mind. But it always makes me laugh whenever I think of it.

Looking forward to when you cover the PS1 era, especially 7 and 9.

I feel like the airship is a late-game hub in FF7-10, even if they are not always complete hubs.

I love how you clearly know so so much about FF and occasionally drop errors like "'warriors of the light' the game calls them...." [Light warriors]

Funny how often you mention Greek mythos considering by FF14, the player character _litterary is_ Hercules and every villain is named after Greek figures. And I hate that. FF1 is my favorite in the entire series. FF3 is fantastic and has one of the most joyeus endings. FF4 is the most special one in my heart. FF5 is great fun. FF7 got me into the series. It's important to note that the design of FF2 wasn't _abandoned_ , it was *reused* in the Romancing SaGa series. I know you mentioned it but.. I wanted to emphasis it! FF3 *was* going to have a Wonderswan version but they realized that, hilariously, it'd break the memory contraints of that handheld significantly. There's even official screenshots of a wip they had going. They said they always wanted to come back to FF3 but didn't until the NDS remake ( _later ported to android and steam_ ) which became the defacto remake until PR, thus giving us two different versions of FF3 to enjoy. While FF4 has at least 4-5 different variations but really just 3: Snes/Wii, PSP and NDS/Steam. Not only that, FF3 Remake has a lot of dialogue that was cut as they originally intended the characters to have a lot more to say. I did a solo run of FF3 ( _Famicom_ ) using a Red Mage only. I still need to render those files. But my main critciism of FF3 is that.. well... Red Mage just _stops_ about 1/4th through the game. It's not as powerful as it was in FF1, it stops reciving new weapons and armors leaving it terribly undercooked later on. It's main strength comes from however, it's utility purpose of being able to wield both black/white spells while dual wielding which allowed me to still overcome foes... But I couldn't defeat 3 of the 4 final guardians without trickery. They just did too much damage. But Cloud of Darkness however _was_ beatable. Such joy! You never need to use Dragoons against Garuda. I don't understand how that myth keeps perpetuating, you can just force your way through and Garuda will fall. Signed, the prodigal Red Mage. Chronicles in the making. **SPOILER ALERT** Desh's death is pretty sad.... And then you learn he didn't die and that just cracks me up xD " _So Desh... You've died.._ " " _GUARRGH! THAT WAS CLOSE!_ " That's kinda funny, I didn't find Eureka that hard, and I was a solo RDM :D But I did have to redo it because one of the bosses ( _The General_ ) squashed me. You have weird words regarding Xande and Cloud of Darkness. He was never a puppet. Along with Doga and Unei, Xande was a great magician under the tutelage of a Wizard. This Wizard viewed all his students as amazing pupils but none were as good as Xande, thus he bestowed Xande what he believed to be the greatest of gifts - *Mortality* . Xande became distraught and angered and sought to cover the world in Darkness thus halting time. Xande isn't a puppet, he's working with the Cloud of Darkness. Great video, I enjoyed this!

I love Final Fantasy 2. While is gameplay is undeniably flawed the story is great for the time.

They say the code for the fastest ship in FFIII couldn't be replicated. I forgot the name of the coder, but yeah.

Just now got around to watching this because I've been playing the Pixel Remasters. Awesome video Bopper. Out of the NES games 1 was my favorite because it was the easiest lol

the original and "current" ff1 class change is really funny since everyone goes from cute lil sprites to buff 80s music video musclemen monk especially looks like he just walked out of a glam workout vhs Also while it's notable, Altair's destruction isn't that unique in Final Fantasy in particular, major important areas get nuked fairly frequently in this series. Mostly so you can't go back because that town was on a previous disc and we need to save enough room for the cg ending sequence.

I'm currently playing through every FF game right now and currently am on FF7, and so far my favorite game in the series has to be FF3.

Haha you and i had similar upbringings in from indiana and was born in 1995, first console was the SNES my console library was jumbled around i didnt get to touch an NES til i was 13 and i loved playing the OG i was oblivious to the playstation 1 remakes for 1,2 and 4, ive played the first 10 games, 12 and 13, loved all of em. Havent played 11 or 14 onward, just couldnt afford it or have the time, but still im happy i grew up when i did. Kinda wish i was fluent in Japanese and i somehow grew up in Japan so i could have played all the games on their original consoles especially 2, 3 and 5. Edit: now that i finished the video, 2 is actually pretty realistic cuz if ya dont practice your skills they wont improve and it plays on the nitzche quote "That which doesnt kill us makes us stronger" and 3 for the DS was a botched remake it just felt tedious to play and grind, every fight was a deathmatch.

Scholar doubles the restorative properties of items they use btw.

The reason people will argue for the superiority of the GBA versions of FF1 and FF2 is very obvious, it added more cool content, while also adding mostly good life improvements. Yes, saving anywhere is both good and bad. It removes a part of the gameplay, the careful managing of the team over time, and more stable strategies. I really didn't like what they did with FF13, where there was no punishment from dying. Who cares how the fight goes? If I die, I can just try again or do something else. It also meant I could rely on the luck-dependent spell Death. The long dungeons with a lot of fights, they become more of a pointless chore when you can just save between fights. Did I just walk into another dead end? Oh well, I can just reload / go back.

coincidence or not, there has been a time in which I was also addicted on ff3

@shytendeakatamanoir9740

4 ай бұрын

So was I!

Loved this!!! Although I’m already scared that my favourite one will be receive a lot of hate lol (it is VIII btw)

@ProfessorBopper

3 ай бұрын

Final Fantasy VIII is absolutely fantastic. You have nothing to worry about!

@murarmight

3 ай бұрын

@@ProfessorBopper thank you Professor 🥹🥹🥹🥰🥰🥰

After my playthroughs of the Pixel Remasters, I ended up considering FF3 the best of the NES trilogy, but simultaneously my least favourite of them. Final Fantasy 2, its bad dungeon design aside, had what felt like the most ambitious story of the trilogy, and I found it more compelling than 3's, even disregarding the _Gulliver's Travels_ comparison. My problem with FF3 was it felt like FF1 but larger. Not the same as the first, but similar enough that it took away from what 3 did differently. I liked Xande's motivation, I can see how it fits in the wider world, but at the same time, it often feels like there's little to no connective tissue between vignettes. FF1 has a bunch of vignettes too, but with the exception of Bahamut, it mostly comes together like a nesting doll of completing tasks to complete bigger tasks. That said, I think it's overdo for a replay from me.

Would the analysis include Final Fantasy Tactics, wich btw ia both the nest Final Fantasy and the best Strategy RPG?

@easy_nin

4 ай бұрын

Now that makes me interested in an analysis of the role of Cid...because one of the FFT Cids is the best one (I say that as if I played more than 1/4 of the games lol)

@ProfessorBopper

4 ай бұрын

It won’t. I’m just doing the main series. I may end up doing the FFT trilogy as a separate video

Awesome video. I think one of other element of the original Final Fantasy to note, especially as it parallels with both the Gulliver's Travels and Greek heros comparisons, is that it is extremely inspired by Dungeons and Dragons. The classes and blank slate characters allow for role play. The episodic storytelling is how many a DnD campaign unfolds. And the attrition of dungeon crawling feels incredibly DnD.

Final Fantasy 1 kinda goes hard conceptionally maybe I should get Final Fantasy 20th Anniversary Edition 3DS

The reason there was no Wonderswan port of FF3 was because they lost the game's source code. Dunno how, but it happened.

Anyway, regardless of my comments, I'm looking forward to the rest of these videos. I did take notice of the multiple times you put FF6 ?followed? by FF7 as the best in the series. I personally don't agree, but I find it hard to split hairs over FF5-FF9. Like in my head it's clear FF8 really isn't on the same level, just due to gameplay issues. It does a lot right when it comes to gameplay, but there's just too many fundamental flaws to the battle system. I'm not focusing on exploits, but more that it's set up to have you not want to use magic and how slow drawing works. The way the leveling works and enemies scaling with you may have seemed like a good idea, but does it work well? And yeah, limit spam etc, just broken. Story is convoluted, except for two main characters, they are not well fleshed out and certainly has little development etc. Neither is FF5 all there due to story reasons, not because it's bad, I loved the adventure of it, just it's nothing compared to the 3 others left and it doesn't do anything else that much better than them. I feel like it hit so well with almost all it's experimentation with gameplay and I liked it's gameplay etc. FF7's weak point is character development. The story is very cool. It has some good plot twists and lots of action that it actually foreshadows well. You run from place to place, chasing a mysterious man, a living legend. Most new places you get to is a chance to tell the back story of a party member. They are all sad, and you learn why they are currently with you. It reflects on different stages of grief. Unlike the games before it, it's futuristic. There is some attempts at character development, by contrasting the characters with their past, but it's not much current or forward change. Even if things happen or issues are resolved, it doesn't really change them much, in the present anyway, most of that has happened and you don't really get to experience it, it just make them more determined to fight for your cause. For the gameplay, it's strong point is maybe also it's weak point. The characters are not unique in battle, they can be anything, any stats can easily be maxed, and they can be given any materia. The only things that really differ them is their weapons, which doesn't really have much variety, and limit breaks, which are more of a rare thing. FF6's weak point is how the characters interconnect. It's cool first being given some back story and reason for joining, but then later have more of a reset, see where they would go if we split and get more of their back story and development, but I feel like that is also sort of it's problem. A lot of characters are optional, it's definitely optional how you "collect" them at the end, so you don't necessarily have them in your party. Not when you pick them up, nor for the end-game story. This means the interaction between characters can't be relied upon to the same degree. Even earlier in the game, the party is split at several points. You can personalize your character stats though, as they improve based on magicite equipped. FF9's weakest point is how slow battles are.... If I was to comment on the story, it may not always be as intense and with as much action, it has some lulls, it's slower points between the highs. It relaxes a bit, oftentimes it's at a point where you are given time to do side stuff. The character development is the strongest in any game I've ever played. A little known fact is that the stat system is similar to FF6, but it's just somewhat hidden from the player, and never properly explained. I bet 99% of players, especially back when it was first released, had no idea about how it really worked. Not that they needed to know though. It's a throw back to earlier games, so many references, and even the setting. It just does it all so well. A pro and a con, the characters are not blank slates, they have specific roles, and it's very much story connected. The limit break system sucked though. Summons were cooler in FF8, but in FF9 they are character specific. I don't really think most of the gameplay or exploration is often beat elsewhere in the series. I do feel like FF7 gets a lot of extra love just for being a super popular game that opened the eyes to JRPGs for a lot of people in the west. It had a massive advertising budget. FF6 was kinda the hipster game, the good game before it was popular (FF7). Kefka often put up against Sephiroth. I actually like to compare Sephiroth with Kuja, as I feel they are quite similar in a lot of ways, they were just handled differently, and this is also why Kuja isn't the final boss. Would love your thoughts about that. In a lot of ways, FF10 was the same thing as FF7. Sold so much on PS2, the most sold console ever, brought the genre to a lot of new players. However, FF10... I feel like it sacrificed graphics for gameplay, and the story was never that amazing. The setting was new and cool though. The sphere grid was neat as well, but at the end, it ended up as a more grindy blank slate, like FF7.

I'm glad the message is spreading tbh

I can't wait for FF XIII. It is a game i like but i know that is also a mess.

This is where the fun begins

This video series (plus wanting to work on my Japanese) inspired me to go back and replay the series in Japanese and... wow FFII is worse than I remember. Like I definitely appreciate the story more after hearing your take on it, but wow as a game it really tested my patience. The leveling system is bad, but it's not a death sentence--the dungeon design is just horrible and clearly the result of trying to pad out a game that had to have a quick turnaround. The leveling system just removes another way the game might be fun to play, but it's really not the horrific mechanic it's said to be. You can trivialize the battles or turn them off on the Pixel Remaster but the bad dungeon design isn't made much better even with a map lmao. Onto 3, enjoying it so far.

I only played the series from 7 onwards. We didn't get 1-6 in Europe.

@MadderCommotion

Ай бұрын

We did get anthologies and compilations though! I had 6 on PS1

I live for Beowulf analysis in video game essays. Seriously, great work as usual. Your ability to clearly articulate ambiguous concepts like literary themes and meaning without defaulting to shoring up ammunition to defend a hot take always feels egoless and enlightening. I've been playing through the FF games myself, just jumping around to the big ones so far (6, 9, 10, currently 7), but this has convinced me to try the NES games, which I was not so sure I wanted to bother with before. But I love the simplicity and gravitas of classic storytelling and the aesthetics in those games look amazing.

TBH I have always been put off by the Final Fantasy series exactly because unlike Fire Emblem, Dragon Quest, Pokemon, etc it isn't basically the same game with new paint or gimmicks. It sounds a bit dramatic too honestly, lol

Final Fantasy II is pearls before swine.

Well... let's hear what YOU have to say.

Good gets on those wire frame gamespot titles. First time I played the first Castlevania was in the fall of 2005 on a GBA classic line cart at an EB Games near the outskits of Edmonton for 15 CAD. A used copy with instruction booklet. I was driving someone to the west side of Edmonton on my way home from University doing my civil environmental engineering degree second year that Friday night and it was also the first time I saw an episode of Naruto as I was playing a few rounds of that title before I had to do some engineering homework on Saturday morning.

I feel like you have a similar type of brainrot that I have where I’ll get interested in a large series or body of work and then decide, against all advice and logic “I need to play all of them, and do it in order”

@ProfessorBopper

4 ай бұрын

I didn’t play them in order, which made it even weirder. The order I played was 3, 2, 4, 1, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 9, 16, 15, 5, 10

@deatgr3623

3 ай бұрын

@@ProfessorBopper sometimes going in order makes it weirder than not, 15 year old me trying to play Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light off of Awakening and Fates can attest to that

Leon is not a student

Feeling much more kinship with you given your interests but now finding out we're actually the same age (I thought you were in your 30s)

You should analyze Xenoblade series.

Every time I hear you say "Final Fantasy is", I feel the need to correct it to "Final Fantasy was".

@ProfessorBopper

Ай бұрын

Only needs to be corrected if there’s a tense disagreement (Final Fantasy still exists and doesn’t need to be played, or spoken of, in the past)

Ah, half of the good times for the series; pairs perfectly with the SNES era. Things got bad when they tried to leave those platforms. FF6+ChronoTrigger is the proper end of the series.

The side quest for weapons in FF? FF4 they are just all in the last dungeon, but they have different challenges to obtain them. FF5 you actually have to complete different challenges to unlock the weapons, but it's nothing dedicated to each character. FF6 they mix who can use which up a bit, but how they are obtain varies and some are just stolen, and there's not really any "ultimate weapons". But the point of my comment is... FF7-FF9 is where they get all these complicated side quests for ultimate weapons tied to specific characters. This definitely doesn't start with FF9, and it's just as complicated and tied to mini games and whatnot in both FF7 and FF8. While it gets super specific in FF10, I feel like that game applies less than any of the ones before it. The ultimate weapons often, if not always, aren't the best, so not the ultimate at all, you can get for each character. They just seem to match the characters a bit, but even deciding that a specific ability on the weapon is good for a character, some of those abilities could have been better. The way to get them is making them yourself.

I disagree with "FF has no memorable dungeons". Maybe the gimmicks are what is memorable, but the one in III where you are small? The one in IV where you can't use metal items? The last one in VI where you split the party? Of the last one in III, if we limit ourselves to this video. I mean, that last dungeon is not memorable for positive things, but it still is. I love FFIII, that game is a jerk, but that's why is so interesting.

@GribbleGob

4 ай бұрын

technically there's two dungeons where you split the party in 6.

Don't be sorry you are playing the Pixel Remasters. The original versions of the first 3 games have not aged well. Also very buggy, making the games quite unbalanced. Either with enemy encounters or how jobs compare against each other.

I don't know what you mean, I prefer the III remake over the pixel remaster. It has named characters and awesome Chibi graphics! I really don't think it's as controversial as you make it out to be.

2:00 Sisyphean technological advancements? Sisyphus was a tyrant who violated the law of hospitality and repeatedly cheated death. The gods punished these transgressions by condemning him to roll a boulder up a hill forever in the underworld, only for the boulder to magically escape him before he got to the top so that he would have to start over again. It was a pointless, endless task. I'm not sure that's the comparison you want to make to Square iterating on their RPG format for 30 years. Maybe it is though, if you're playing some of these on original hardware and you had to restart over and over again.

@ProfessorBopper

3 ай бұрын

It was specifically about their period in the 2000s where they endlessly and pointlessly sank money into new technology and graphics (Spirits Within, XII, XIII), losing money, only to find they they had to do it again for another game or film as the rest of the industry consumed their innovations, leaving them to have to do it again and again. It wasn't about gameplay iteration

If you are playing the pixel remasters, you cannot say all the games are easy. Games like ff1, 2, 3, and 5 can be completely brutal to a blind player when you dont have auto save and the bosses are not balanced properly.

@shytendeakatamanoir9740

4 ай бұрын

The original FFIII is pretty nightmarish, honestly. Phoenix Down are a finite ressource, and with spell charge being as limited as ever, a KO character is out of battle for a long time.

@GribbleGob

4 ай бұрын

garbage take

@chiveskirk

4 ай бұрын

As far as the Pixel Remasters of I and II go, there is auto save and the bosses are unbalanced in your favour. Many bosses are weaker than encounters in the same dungeon.

@shytendeakatamanoir9740

4 ай бұрын

@@chiveskirk To be fair, that's more the style of the time, I feel. The dungeon is the real challenge more than the bosses themselves. That says, the lack of forced tiles encounter in FF1 PR drastically reduces the game's difficulty.

I like 1-6 and 9. Everything else ranges from "meh" to just crap, to me.