new additions to FF

I say you are wrong about the formula for Crisis Cores leveling system. Though it APPEARS that level ups are random they are not, they actually have an invisible EXP counter. After you reach a landmark amount of experience you do have a 'chance' of leveling, and it can take a few battles,but it is not truly a random system and you are garunteed to get the levels you earn.

Personally I dislike most of your ideas for future games as well but that's a matter of taste. FFVII is done and needs to stay done. The story is MORE than complete. A game where you play as villians isn't all that compelling to me either unless it is a game where your choices actually maatter such as the Baldur's Gate games or (dare I say) The Mass Effect Trilogy. Even so the idea of playing 'evil' characters is stupid in the first place because no one in the world who has correct mental functions is truly evil, they think what they are doing is right in some capacity even if they mean to achieve it through drastic measures.

 I would like to see Final Fantasy be handed over to Mistwalker so Sakaguchi can at least attempt to rectify all the damage that has been done to the series sense his absence, but since that will never happen, I'd like to see them attempt to go back to basics and make a game that has recognizable storytelling and actual gameplay before they try anything as complex as actually making a game 'good'. If they want an idea of how to try and return to their glory days, they should have Matrix Software design a game that actually has a budget, since they seem to understand what Final Fantasy is far more than the main teams do (As shown by their remakes of Final Fantasy III and IV on the DS as well as the highly entertaining Final Fantasy Dimensions on IOS and Android...it's really a shame they never made a console or handheld version of this game... it was far from perfect but it's the closest thing to a real final fantasy we've gotten since  2006)

I say you are wrong about the formula for Crisis Cores leveling system. Though it APPEARS that level ups are random they are not, they actually have an invisible EXP counter. After you reach a landmark amount of experience you do have a 'chance' of leveling, and it can take a few battles,but it is not truly a random system and you are garunteed to get the levels you earn.

 

Personally I dislike most of your ideas for future games as well but that's a matter of taste. FFVII is done and needs to stay done. The story is MORE than complete. A game where you play as villians isn't all that compelling to me either unless it is a game where your choices actually maatter such as the Baldur's Gate games or (dare I say) The Mass Effect Trilogy. Even so the idea of playing 'evil' characters is stupid in the first place because no one in the world who has correct mental functions is truly evil, they think what they are doing is right in some capacity even if they mean to achieve it through drastic measures.

 I would like to see Final Fantasy be handed over to Mistwalker so Sakaguchi can at least attempt to rectify all the damage that has been done to the series sense his absence, but since that will never happen, I'd like to see them attempt to go back to basics and make a game that has recognizable storytelling and actual gameplay before they try anything as complex as actually making a game 'good'. If they want an idea of how to try and return to their glory days, they should have Matrix Software design a game that actually has a budget, since they seem to understand what Final Fantasy is far more than the main teams do (As shown by their remakes of Final Fantasy III and IV on the DS as well as the highly entertaining Final Fantasy Dimensions on IOS and Android...it's really a shame they never made a console or handheld version of this game... it was far from perfect but it's the closest thing to a real final fantasy we've gotten since  2006)

Xx_Kares_xX

Well I think you are drasticaly wrong and ave bad tste. FF is fine as it is, it didn't deteriorate, decline, nor is ny game after 7 bad. Sure 13 isn't all that great, but it is still good and the only bad game after 7. i use the term bad loosely, 13 isn't really bad.I don't think you'd understand, however, seeing that you like theold gaes better. bad taste to me, FF has so drastically improved to me, and in my opinionnthe later games are better and i have played every main FF game there is. 7,8,9,10 ( 10 being the best to me by a large margin) 12, tactics, TA, TA2, and 11 and 13-2, even 13, are good, not bad games by any means, even 0-2, and to me ae better tan the older games, namely 1-6. BTW, IMHO, being evil doesn't mean you ddon't ave a correct mental function. That is very disrespectful, brain washed thinking, annoying,lame, and just purely unture, the ramblings of a fool.bad taste agai saying it is better to play as good characters than bad. you understand and know nOTHINg. Impudent mindless banter, is what it is. Personlly, i hate cecil, I hate cloud, idane, maybe squall, and  I like tidus.the good characters personally to me is repulsive and annoying.Me and many oters would absolutely love to be bad characters, and the fatt is that the producers of Ff dissidia obviously aaaw this and allowed you to play as bad characters onarcade mode, a drastic improvement to FF, oneyou would so foolishly thnkisn't good or desirable more than likely. when in fact, it is by any means.of the best additions ever, not a detrement which is absurd.. Liking good characters is evil, just a different form of it.

You obviously didn't understand what I was saying for a lot of it. I was not saying YOU had bad taste, so I consider what you said a personal and rude attack on me. I said that 'it came down to a matter of taste' in other words my tastes differ from yours, not that yours is wrong. Playing the villians is an interesting idea in the fact that they are well designed characters, but none of the Final Fantasy Villians CONSIDER themselves evil. They all think they have a just cause. When talking about playing a game as the 'evil' side it makes no sense and goes completely against all forms of realism or actual human psychology. The only way someone can truly be 'evil' is if they are not mentally stable. No one wakes up in the morning and says, "I want to be evil today' it's just stupid. They all think they are justified in their own way for doing what they do. As William Shakespeare once said, "there's no such thing as good or bad, but thinking makes it so". YOU may view someone's intentions as evil, but I can garuntee that the other person does not think of it as evil if any real world consequences are involved.

It's not mindless banter as you put it, I have studied both literature and psychology, and am working on degrees in both.

XIII IS a bad GAME. you can enjoy it for what it is, but GAMES require a key component, the key component being GAMEPLAY, which FFXIII lacks in every way. I have 'played' visual novels with more interactivity, and at least those claim to be what they are, NOVELS with a visual backing. 

As far as the other games go, that's fine that you enjoy them more and it's hard to argue otherwise. I actually write full on critiques and reviews and have studied enough game design to have a pretty good grasp on what actually makes a game a GOOD game, ESPECIALLY when it comes to RPGs. As a critic I have to seperate what I LIKE from what is actually GOOD, and by doing so I have come to the conclusion that the Final Fantasy Series as a whole is a very mixed bag. Untol XIII, I didn't feel there was an actual 'decline' in the series, in fact, from what I've seen my opinion on the  series seems to show an interesting pattern of every three or so games being stellar while the rest are decent and only a couple are actually BAD. You don't even know my opinion on the entire series, but there are noticably more flaws in the newer titles, especially when being compared to not only the past games in the series but the current games on the market. I find FFXII to be one of the best in the entire series ESPECIALLY from a gameplay perspective, and if you actually READ MY REVIEWS on here, you would see that for the most part I praised FFX, so really I'm not sure why you are trying to tear into me like we differ so differently in our ideas x.x

You obviously didn't understand what I was saying for a lot of it. I was not saying YOU had bad taste, so I consider what you said a personal and rude attack on me. I said that 'it came down to a matter of taste' in other words my tastes differ from yours, not that yours is wrong. Playing the villians is an interesting idea in the fact that they are well designed characters, but none of the Final Fantasy Villians CONSIDER themselves evil. They all think they have a just cause. When talking about playing a game as the 'evil' side it makes no sense and goes completely against all forms of realism or actual human psychology. The only way someone can truly be 'evil' is if they are not mentally stable. No one wakes up in the morning and says, "I want to be evil today' it's just stupid. They all think they are justified in their own way for doing what they do. As William Shakespeare once said, "there's no such thing as good or bad, but thinking makes it so". YOU may view someone's intentions as evil, but I can garuntee that the other person does not think of it as evil if any real world consequences are involved.

 

It's not mindless banter as you put it, I have studied both literature and psychology, and am working on degrees in both.

 

XIII IS a bad GAME. you can enjoy it for what it is, but GAMES require a key component, the key component being GAMEPLAY, which FFXIII lacks in every way. I have 'played' visual novels with more interactivity, and at least those claim to be what they are, NOVELS with a visual backing. 

 

As far as the other games go, that's fine that you enjoy them more and it's hard to argue otherwise. I actually write full on critiques and reviews and have studied enough game design to have a pretty good grasp on what actually makes a game a GOOD game, ESPECIALLY when it comes to RPGs. As a critic I have to seperate what I LIKE from what is actually GOOD, and by doing so I have come to the conclusion that the Final Fantasy Series as a whole is a very mixed bag. Untol XIII, I didn't feel there was an actual 'decline' in the series, in fact, from what I've seen my opinion on the  series seems to show an interesting pattern of every three or so games being stellar while the rest are decent and only a couple are actually BAD. You don't even know my opinion on the entire series, but there are noticably more flaws in the newer titles, especially when being compared to not only the past games in the series but the current games on the market. I find FFXII to be one of the best in the entire series ESPECIALLY from a gameplay perspective, and if you actually READ MY REVIEWS on here, you would see that for the most part I praised FFX, so really I'm not sure why you are trying to tear into me like we differ so differently in our ideas x.x

 

 

Xx_Kares_xX

I pm'd u, please read it and remmber it.... take it seriously... it's the truth......... 

BTW Kares, do you really actually dislike the idea of beig able to have every summoning from every FFgame and alot of characcters to equip them withthe summonings/ You really don't like the idea of having every chracter on you team equipped with summonings? i mean, thee be the perfect amount of summonings and the perfect amount of characters..... maybe even you could use 6 characters at a time nd switch in characters for exp. like in 10. 

I don't care for the systems where very character can summon because it generally means that any character can use magic in general, which almost always breaks the difficulty and pacing of every rpg such mechanics are introduced too. I even hate Limit Breaks as a concept because in every game they are part of in the FF series (excluding IX) they make every boss you fight a complete joke, so if you tried to limit summons as just a special attack it STILL wouldn't keep the game balanced, so on a personal level, I really don't think it's a good idea. More characters MIGHT be a plus, but once again, keeping a team of 3 (or in my preference between 4 and 5) keeps the game balanced and interesting. In a game with three characters you almost always make a team of Tank, Healer and Mage to keep your party balanced, leaving no variety (and there's even LESS variety in gsames like FFVIII where any character can perform ALL roles). In a team of 4 you get the three basics plus a bonus character to play around with, and with a team of 5 you actually get to experiment a great deal. The problem here is that with each additional character you have to balance the boss fights and random battles to keep them challening against what is generally an overwhelmingly powerful force. That's what makes FFIV so amazing, you have five party members but the gameplay is remarkably well balanced in almost every concievable way. It's also the reason your beloved FFX decided to only allow three party members in battle at a time despite the ability to swap out characters from a total party of 7. If they'd allowed for you to use all 7 characters at once the game would have to be balanced around it, and making a game difficult enough to actually be enjoyable under such restrictions would be close to impossible. All of the bosses would have to be metaphorical armies, or have the ability to one hit kill every member of your party to keep things even remotely fair.

The exception to this of course is the tactics games which gets past the limitations by providing another level of interactivity: a 3D plane. When you add movement to the system there is a great deal more freedom and far more things to think about, allowing for many more options for good balancing, but also a handful of it's own problems such as trying to keep the classes fairly even and not too overpowered themselves (which, every single SRPG game I've ever played has had at least a handful of units that are unbelivably cheap, so it's something that hasn't  yet been perfected).

So that's why I feel the way that I do, it is almost purely to do with game balancing and pacing.

I don't care for the systems where very character can summon because it generally means that any character can use magic in general, which almost always breaks the difficulty and pacing of every rpg such mechanics are introduced too. I even hate Limit Breaks as a concept because in every game they are part of in the FF series (excluding IX) they make every boss you fight a complete joke, so if you tried to limit summons as just a special attack it STILL wouldn't keep the game balanced, so on a personal level, I really don't think it's a good idea. More characters MIGHT be a plus, but once again, keeping a team of 3 (or in my preference between 4 and 5) keeps the game balanced and interesting. In a game with three characters you almost always make a team of Tank, Healer and Mage to keep your party balanced, leaving no variety (and there's even LESS variety in gsames like FFVIII where any character can perform ALL roles). In a team of 4 you get the three basics plus a bonus character to play around with, and with a team of 5 you actually get to experiment a great deal. The problem here is that with each additional character you have to balance the boss fights and random battles to keep them challening against what is generally an overwhelmingly powerful force. That's what makes FFIV so amazing, you have five party members but the gameplay is remarkably well balanced in almost every concievable way. It's also the reason your beloved FFX decided to only allow three party members in battle at a time despite the ability to swap out characters from a total party of 7. If they'd allowed for you to use all 7 characters at once the game would have to be balanced around it, and making a game difficult enough to actually be enjoyable under such restrictions would be close to impossible. All of the bosses would have to be metaphorical armies, or have the ability to one hit kill every member of your party to keep things even remotely fair.

 

The exception to this of course is the tactics games which gets past the limitations by providing another level of interactivity: a 3D plane. When you add movement to the system there is a great deal more freedom and far more things to think about, allowing for many more options for good balancing, but also a handful of it's own problems such as trying to keep the classes fairly even and not too overpowered themselves (which, every single SRPG game I've ever played has had at least a handful of units that are unbelivably cheap, so it's something that hasn't  yet been perfected).

 

So that's why I feel the way that I do, it is almost purely to do with game balancing and pacing.

Xx_Kares_xX

You know what...... tat ctually makes alot of snese..... dammit, i'm agreeing wit you!..........:)

i know i ave many typos.......

but my eys don't respond too well, i press em' once nd I get nithing sometimes. 

You obviously didn't understand what I was saying for a lot of it. I was not saying YOU had bad taste, so I consider what you said a personal and rude attack on me. I said that 'it came down to a matter of taste' in other words my tastes differ from yours, not that yours is wrong. Playing the villians is an interesting idea in the fact that they are well designed characters, but none of the Final Fantasy Villians CONSIDER themselves evil. They all think they have a just cause. When talking about playing a game as the 'evil' side it makes no sense and goes completely against all forms of realism or actual human psychology. The only way someone can truly be 'evil' is if they are not mentally stable. No one wakes up in the morning and says, "I want to be evil today' it's just stupid. They all think they are justified in their own way for doing what they do. As William Shakespeare once said, "there's no such thing as good or bad, but thinking makes it so". YOU may view someone's intentions as evil, but I can garuntee that the other person does not think of it as evil if any real world consequences are involved.

 

It's not mindless banter as you put it, I have studied both literature and psychology, and am working on degrees in both.

 

XIII IS a bad GAME. you can enjoy it for what it is, but GAMES require a key component, the key component being GAMEPLAY, which FFXIII lacks in every way. I have 'played' visual novels with more interactivity, and at least those claim to be what they are, NOVELS with a visual backing. 

 

Xx_Kares_xX

That's true about villians. However, some Final Fantasy villains can be described as undeniably evil if you ask me. At least one anyway, and he certainly doesn't seem to be mentally stable. Kefca.

As for XIII... for a game that supposodly "lacks gameplay" I spent a lot of time "playing" it, and having difficulty. I consider it one of the hardest games in the Final Fantasy series. And I played at least one version of every main Final Fantasy game except V. It has a lot of cutscenes, but it does have gameplay too...

Really? was tapping the 'x' button and pushing forward particularly entertaining for you? ^^

x.x wow I'm sorry, that was a really assholish comment. let me explain in a more reasonable manner. The amount of cutscenes are not the problem for me. hell, I'm a fan of Star Ocean and Xenosaga. The lack of gameplay I'm referring to is the fact that there is NO exploration and no strategy. I don't know where you found challenge in that game because it certainly wasn't in the main story. Pressing autobattle every single round and having to change paradigms every once in a great while did not constitute gameplay in my (and many others) opinion. 

RPGs are by their very nature repetitive, and good rpgs like to make you forget this by having good stories that make you want to push through the monotony anyway, or by implementing actual strategy in boss battles. Some even take the route of giving you action battle systems like the Tales series. Final Fantasy XIII fails on all accounts by not only having a terrible story (not only in the form of characters and plot, which I can admit is a matter of taste, but by how terribly it fails at even the most simple of story telling forms and concepts, which is NOT a matter of taste, it is a simple understanding of literature and script writing) but the combat is made so idiot proof that it actually has an 'auto battle' button that doesn't just default you to a standard attack, but AUTOMATICALLY chooses the best attack for every single scenario. Even if you do wnat to argue that the paradigm system CAN be strategic (which I will admit happened a couple times in the game when I was severelly underleveled) the ability to have exactly SIX options in combat is not exactly what I'd call interesting or entertaining gameplay design. They amanaged to take the RPG genre (which, let's face it, even as a fan I can point out is pretty repetitive and boring) and make it involve the player even LESS.

Well then.. nerd rant done ^^'

Really? was tapping the 'x' button and pushing forward particularly entertaining for you? ^^

 

x.x wow I'm sorry, that was a really assholish comment. let me explain in a more reasonable manner. The amount of cutscenes are not the problem for me. hell, I'm a fan of Star Ocean and Xenosaga. The lack of gameplay I'm referring to is the fact that there is NO exploration and no strategy. I don't know where you found challenge in that game because it certainly wasn't in the main story. Pressing autobattle every single round and having to change paradigms every once in a great while did not constitute gameplay in my (and many others) opinion. 

RPGs are by their very nature repetitive, and good rpgs like to make you forget this by having good stories that make you want to push through the monotony anyway, or by implementing actual strategy in boss battles. Some even take the route of giving you action battle systems like the Tales series. Final Fantasy XIII fails on all accounts by not only having a terrible story (not only in the form of characters and plot, which I can admit is a matter of taste, but by how terribly it fails at even the most simple of story telling forms and concepts, which is NOT a matter of taste, it is a simple understanding of literature and script writing) but the combat is made so idiot proof that it actually has an 'auto battle' button that doesn't just default you to a standard attack, but AUTOMATICALLY chooses the best attack for every single scenario. Even if you do wnat to argue that the paradigm system CAN be strategic (which I will admit happened a couple times in the game when I was severelly underleveled) the ability to have exactly SIX options in combat is not exactly what I'd call interesting or entertaining gameplay design. They amanaged to take the RPG genre (which, let's face it, even as a fan I can point out is pretty repetitive and boring) and make it involve the player even LESS.

 

Well then.. nerd rant done ^^'

Xx_Kares_xX

Some bosses in the main story were pretty challenging for me. The auto battle does not make things much easier for me, just a little more convenient. Since most times it's obvious which abilities you should use as that role. But the strategy is in the paradigms. Switch "every once in great while?" That I find hard to believe. I needed to switch constantly. For bosses anyway. And the fact that the stagger meter goes down when you aren't attacking can make things tricky, since you want to be on the offesive as much as possible, but sometimes defence is neccassry.

I didn't consider it the hardest game ever, no, but I found it much more difficult then most Final Fantasy games. X comes a little close though, but only because of a few boss battles in that game. Most of X was very easy for me. And I have not played any of the NES games. I have played 1 and 2 on PSP (Ridiculously easy games, but I know the originals were harder) and 3 on DS. 3 put up a good fight at times too, mostly near the end, but XIII was harder for me.

Even FFIV on DS, which most people seem to find very challenging, was much easier then XIII for me. So I dunno. Maybe I'm just weird. 

Yeah.. most rpgs aren't really 'hard' it all comes down to the grinding. FFX for the most part is very strategic and can be challenging, but they made a huge flaw in the gameplay by allowing you to abuse the Aeon's overdrives to demolish any boss you come across.

FFIV on DS wasn't really 'difficult' it jsut required a lot more grinding than every other game in the series. The only boss I struggled with in FFXIII was the final one, and that was because of his bullshit doom attack. The game is literally designed to just instantly kill you if you don't play by it's rules... x.x it's ridiculous.  

For the most part I agree with you though, Final Fantasy isn't really a series with a lot of challenge to begin with, the hardest for me was FFIII, but once again that comes down to the need to grind a lot, and the lack of save points, not really from any real CHALLENGE. 

How did you find FFVIII Difficult o.o it is by far the easiest in the entire series because of it's stupidly exploitable junction system.  Ring Of Fates was really fun for me from a gameplay perspective, but the story is merely okay, and the voice acting is rather annoying. I actually just beat this game for a third time while At anime Expo with my friends, we played it in line and at the hotel, so I finally got to play it  all the way through with 4 people. It's not a very long game, but it was fun.Xx_Kares_xX

I never really understood the junction system in that game. Eventually I got to a boss that i was having trouble with and just gave up. Since I wasn't really having much fun, lol. Not saying it's the hardest FF I played, I just didn't feel like trying.

The esaiest games for me are VI and VII. Because in those games you can just give everybody healing spells. (Which you can do in VIII too I guess) And VI also has certain characters that can do massive damage with their special skills, like Cyan, Sabin, and Edgar. With no cost. And if you get enough Summons, Limit Breaks, and certain Materia in VII it be become a joke. Even without them though, It's kinda easy. I remember having a bit of trouble on the final boss my first time through, since I had only one ribbon. Second time though, I had 2 ribbons, and Omnislash. It was a joke.

Yeah, both FFVI and FFVII are very easy. FFVIII is the easiest in the series by a long shot. The hunction system is very easy to understand. Draw magic, then look at the numbers... the higher the number the stronger the bonus x.xXx_Kares_xX

Is that really all it is? I thought there was more to it then that.

Nope.. that's pretty much all it is x.x I wasn't trying to make fun of you by the way, I reread my text and hate how things can be misinterpreted through it. It looks really confusing but honestly it comes down to just 'pick the highest number possible for each stat' and if you REALLY want to simplify it, the only stats that matter for about 3/4s of the game are HP and Strength x.x so just put the two best spells on there and you will literally go from battle one to the last boss using nothing but the draw and attack command. there is no strategy in that game what so ever if you know what you are doing x.xXx_Kares_xX

lol, I see. I'll keep that in mind later when I go back to it, lol. I do wanna play it for the story. But the gameplay never really interested me. From this, it still sounds kinda boring, but easy to play through, lol.

And no worries. I never interprted it as you trying to make fun of me. You were just telling me how simple it actually is, lol.

Yeah it is boring x.x luckily you can get the encounter none ability rather early to make the game less painful. Personally I didn't like the story much either x.x but I still feel as though every FF fan should play it at least once.Xx_Kares_xX

Ah, why is that? Why should every FF fan play it I mean? Just 'cause it's a main FF title? lol. I wanna play all the main FF titles myself. And the only ones I have left are this, XII and V. V being the only one I haven't even played at all.

And I have a question about VIII too actually. I hear people say that monsters level up with the characters in that game. Is that the case with bosses as well? I imagine not, right? If that was the case level ups wouldn't mean much at all. But I am curious about that anyway. 

Yeah just cause it's a main FF game.

And yes, the bosses level up with you too, meaning that leveling up actually makes the game harder not easier. x.x the games balance is pretty awful in every respect. It's not a direct comparison of level though, every time your average group level increases by 20, the enemies go up twenty levels as well, so there is a grace period of 20 levels before their stats increase at all.

Yeah just cause it's a main FF game.

 

And yes, the bosses level up with you too, meaning that leveling up actually makes the game harder not easier. x.x the games balance is pretty awful in every respect. It's not a direct comparison of level though, every time your average group level increases by 20, the enemies go up twenty levels as well, so there is a grace period of 20 levels before their stats increase at all.

Xx_Kares_xX

I see, so that's how it works. That's... interesting I guess. Still prefer the usual leveling system though where enemies don't level up with you. :P 

Yeah just cause it's a main FF game.

 

And yes, the bosses level up with you too, meaning that leveling up actually makes the game harder not easier. x.x the games balance is pretty awful in every respect. It's not a direct comparison of level though, every time your average group level increases by 20, the enemies go up twenty levels as well, so there is a grace period of 20 levels before their stats increase at all.

Xx_Kares_xX

To answer your question, i found ff 8 hard because the first time I foght ultemcia I got my tail handed to me on a dark sorcerous platter. 

[QUOTE="Xx_Kares_xX"]Yeah it is boring x.x luckily you can get the encounter none ability rather early to make the game less painful. Personally I didn't like the story much either x.x but I still feel as though every FF fan should play it at least once.lazyathew

Ah, why is that? Why should every FF fan play it I mean? Just 'cause it's a main FF title? lol. I wanna play all the main FF titles myself. And the only ones I have left are this, XII and V. V being the only one I haven't even played at all.

And I have a question about VIII too actually. I hear people say that monsters level up with the characters in that game. Is that the case with bosses as well? I imagine not, right? If that was the case level ups wouldn't mean much at all. But I am curious about that anyway. 

if monsters and bosses lvl. up with you, then why does Kars consiider that game easy? 

First off: 1 fight does not make a game hard. Secondly the games balance is awful. Leveling up means NOTHING in that game BECAUSE of the junction system, meaning lvl 1 or lvl 100 the difficulty is only determined by your junctions, which is the most easily exploitable power up system ever invented.

Edit: Once again there is a review I wrote for this game in this union, if you really want my opinion on the game then read it, it will save me a LOT of retyping, that and there are pages of comments where people discussed their own opinions which could also be interesting to read.

First off: 1 fight does not make a game hard. Secondly the games balance is awful. Leveling up means NOTHING in that game BECAUSE of the junction system, meaning lvl 1 or lvl 100 the difficulty is only determined by your junctions, which is the most easily exploitable power up system ever invented.

 

 

Edit: Once again there is a review I wrote for this game in this union, if you really want my opinion on the game then read it, it will save me a LOT of retyping, that and there are pages of comments where people discussed their own opinions which could also be interesting to read.

Xx_Kares_xX

What do you mean leveling up means nothing, you can get your summonings (Guardian fighters) stronger and if I remeber corrctly, the junction system only works to raise statss when you level up.  And besides ff8, no other ff game gas given me a hard time. ultemecia was the onLY hard last boss and no other enemies gave me a challeng, or smallr time bosses ither.BTW if it's the junction system that truly makes you powerful, then why is it that i lost at a lower level but then beat her when i got to a much higher level?

Junctions have almost NOTHING to do with leveling up.. they have to do with how much magic you've drawn, once again, almost entiredly making leveling up pointless.  And honestly... it's probably because you weren't junctioning correctly ^^' Ive seen people beat this game with lvl 15 charaters without breaking a sweat. The game is a highly exploitable mess. hell I've seen people beat this game at that low of a level WITHOUT junctions because of all the ridiculously overpowered items you can get playing the card game (Holy Grail or Holy War? Something like that, that literally MAKES YOU INVINCIBLE). If you struggled through FFVIII then you really just... weren't playing it right, there's no way to really say it nicely ^^'. It's not even a game that you have to know 'all the secrets' to exploit, the games tutorials tell you exactly how to do it, and they give you some of the best items to refine in the game very early on.

Edit:  Though, admittedly,if you don't exploit the system, Ultimecia can be somehwat challenging... if you don't have lionheart that is x.x And GFs are completely useless if you use junctions correctly. Literally the only abilities you need in the game are Draw and Attack... MAYBE Magic if you want to cast Aura on yourself... no need to even heal.

Junctions have almost NOTHING to do with leveling up.. they have to do with how much magic you've drawn, once again, almost entiredly making leveling up pointless.  And honestly... it's probably because you weren't junctioning correctly ^^' Ive seen people beat this game with lvl 15 charaters without breaking a sweat. The game is a highly exploitable mess. hell I've seen people beat this game at that low of a level WITHOUT junctions because of all the ridiculously overpowered items you can get playing the card game (Holy Grail or Holy War? Something like that, that literally MAKES YOU INVINCIBLE). If you struggled through FFVIII then you really just... weren't playing it right, there's no way to really say it nicely ^^'. It's not even a game that you have to know 'all the secrets' to exploit, the games tutorials tell you exactly how to do it, and they give you some of the best items to refine in the game very early on.

 

Edit:  Though, admittedly,if you don't exploit the system, Ultimecia can be somehwat challenging... if you don't have lionheart that is x.x And GFs are completely useless if you use junctions correctly. Literally the only abilities you need in the game are Draw and Attack... MAYBE Magic if you want to cast Aura on yourself... no need to even heal.

Xx_Kares_xX

Damn,you mean to tell me I did ALL that f98765g training for nothIng/ Well, atleast it's good for bragging rights, I mean i  got to lvl. 99 with all characters and gf's on disc 1! BTW, doesn't leveling up raise your stats? it's been a very long time since I actually pkayed that game. it was the first FF game and first rpg game I ver played.Anyway, te only FF game to eevn remotely give me a challenge is that  robotic bosson 7 that picks up your fighter and takes them outta the battle, and on mynsecond playthrough of 7, I got to 99 with cllod, vincent, and yuffi, but still could not bat sephiroth's dmi god form. I beat him th first time because I had knights of the round. Although on my 2nd playthrough i got aLl th materia, I couldn't manage to get a gold chocobo to gt knights oof the round.Thn, on my second pkaythrough of 10, i coiuldn't beat the jelly slime bob thing wher the only way you can damage it is to use the magic of it's weakness. Tat's about it though.

Leveling up raises your stats a little, but it's completely insignificant compared to just junctioning magic properly.

Yeah that robot boss can be a real pain in FFVII, there are a couple really cheap ways of beating him though. 

I never really had trouble with sephiroth, but everytime I'd gotten to the end of the game I was pretty over leveled. Much like in FFVIII, the only thing you need to succeed in FFVII is an enemy skill materia with a few essential spells on it and a cure materia, and from there if you want to add summons you can. FFVII at least encouraged you to be creative in how you broke the game, FFVIII does not x.x

I had trouble with the sphere boss in FFX the very first time I played but I haven't sense... in fact that last time I played it I one-shotted it with an aeons overdrive...x.x kind of took all the joy out of it. (okay not quite one shotted,I think it took two hits because of the level of my aeons at the time)

Yeah Sephiroth can be pretty annoying if ya don't have ribbons. If a character or two gets confused after Supernova things can get really dicey. That's why it's good to have 2 ribbons, and make sure someone who has a ribbon uses Megalixer right away. Before someone who is confused gets a chance to attack.

I remember more then once my first time playing, I had 2 confused character and they just killed the entire party right away. :P with two ribbons I found it very easy though.