If anything can really get me in the mood for more video game logging, it's a situation like the one I had this week. Most Final Fantasy games take me around a month to get through. Final Fantasy II however was started up on Sunday and beaten early Friday morning (or late Thursday night really). I went into this one expecting the worst- most of my friends rank it among the worst of the series. But actually, I liked it way more than I thought I would. I dare say I'd rank it ahead of I, III and V. Perhaps the fact that it was easy and quick is making me like it so much. But that's not to say difficulty level is the only thing the game had going for it. I liked the leveling up system here- you only gain experience based on your actions in battle. If you keep hacking away with an axe, you'll get better with an axe than any other weapon. The drawback here was that by the end of the game characters ended up unbalanced- my superpowerful characters were still barely healing themselves at all with cure spells, and the 'ultima magic' that plays such an important role in the story ended up getting tossed to the wayside as I kept fighting physically. But then, it's on the player to decide how balanced they want to make their party. It wasn't as nice as some of the more recent installments, but it's much better than the overly simple FFI and needlessly complex FFIII. The story is pretty basic, but it was at least consistent- aside from a few cheesy death scenes that force a connection to characters I never liked in the first place, you get a basic story of rebels vs. an empire (apparently there was a heavy Star Wars influence) with some interesting subplots- saving an enslaved village, rediscovering 'extinct' races, taking down huge airships, etc. Maybe the fact that I didn't feel like my time was being wasted is why I enjoyed FFII. When the game starts to wear out it's welcome, you've reached the end. Anyway, next up on the list? Final Fantasy VIII.September 2, 2011
Final Fantasy II
If anything can really get me in the mood for more video game logging, it's a situation like the one I had this week. Most Final Fantasy games take me around a month to get through. Final Fantasy II however was started up on Sunday and beaten early Friday morning (or late Thursday night really). I went into this one expecting the worst- most of my friends rank it among the worst of the series. But actually, I liked it way more than I thought I would. I dare say I'd rank it ahead of I, III and V. Perhaps the fact that it was easy and quick is making me like it so much. But that's not to say difficulty level is the only thing the game had going for it. I liked the leveling up system here- you only gain experience based on your actions in battle. If you keep hacking away with an axe, you'll get better with an axe than any other weapon. The drawback here was that by the end of the game characters ended up unbalanced- my superpowerful characters were still barely healing themselves at all with cure spells, and the 'ultima magic' that plays such an important role in the story ended up getting tossed to the wayside as I kept fighting physically. But then, it's on the player to decide how balanced they want to make their party. It wasn't as nice as some of the more recent installments, but it's much better than the overly simple FFI and needlessly complex FFIII. The story is pretty basic, but it was at least consistent- aside from a few cheesy death scenes that force a connection to characters I never liked in the first place, you get a basic story of rebels vs. an empire (apparently there was a heavy Star Wars influence) with some interesting subplots- saving an enslaved village, rediscovering 'extinct' races, taking down huge airships, etc. Maybe the fact that I didn't feel like my time was being wasted is why I enjoyed FFII. When the game starts to wear out it's welcome, you've reached the end. Anyway, next up on the list? Final Fantasy VIII.
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Glad you liked it. I didn't hate it, but for me it was the most apathy-inducing game in the series. FF3 was pretty annoying and FF1 got by on charm alone, but this one just felt kind of short and standard and bland. I completely agree about the cheesy death scenes trying to force an attachment though. I don't even remember the main characters' names a mere three years after beating this game. There was Leon and two auxiliary characters named Minwu and Ricard (and Josef, who I only remember because we talked about him) but who the hell were the three you had all game? Did one go by Farion or something similar? That sounds like a Pokemon.
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