Sometimes I feel like the only person who prefers Tetra Master to Triple Triad. Granted the fact that the game never clues you in that cards have hidden values and how they're calculated is garbage.
I do think the first few hours feel overly scripted and constraining, but gets better relatively after that from what I recall. Also, Quina is the shit, and Eiko and Steiner actually grow to be surprisingly likable characters.
Biggest knock I have against the game is how much it tries to reference the older games. If it had more originality in the story department it might have been my favorite FF.
The two dings that mentioned regarding Tetra Master are game breaking for me, hence why I find it intolerable. I can see the groundwork for Steiner, but I seriously doubt that Quina and Eiko will ever become anything not resembling horrible trash fires. Finally, these references are all flying over my head.
Oh and here's the Bullshit(tm) I remember, because I was one of those assholes that bought the guides by whatever publisher did those guides for games like this that listed everything. Play FF10 if you don't hate yourself after this.
- I agree with you wholeheartedly.
- MAN! I REALLY DO NOT WANT TO DO THE CHOCOBO HOT AND COLD NONSENSE! Can I at least parlay the mission until the end of the game? Before I hit the proverbial "point of no return," that is.
- My initial impressions of Kuja are that he is miles better than the queen in terms of storytelling.
- Oh boy...I sure can't wait until I see that.
- ALL ABOARD THE NOPE TRAIN!
- He's okay...I just wish that he was introduced earlier in the game so is that his characterization didn't come across as stunted.
- That sounds like the worst thing ever.
- No idea, and your guess is as good as mine.
Well, not quite. ZombiePie, the following is details about the Chocobo minigame that I'm sure you've encountered, I'm going to spoiler it in case you don't want to explore it more before looking things up.
You get the chocobo from Chocobo Forest, which is fairly early on. From there, you can summon Choco at any set of Chocobo tracks on the world map. They are pretty easy to see, and appear in most locations, but I don't know how they appear in the PC version. Resolution might kill them. When you have Choco, you can dig up treasure maps and then look for treasure on the world map, which is where you can find upgrades to Choco.
So why exactly am I completing the Chocobo Hot and Cold sidequest. Because on paper it sounds like the most asinine and contrived type of sidequest possible. Is there honestly a good reason for me to complete this nonsense?
You are almost at the point I gave up in my only attempt to play this game, so will be curious to see how you do!
I would love to see what moment that was, because I am almost certain what it may be.
Whenever i play FF9, i eventually end up at the ropeskipping minigame and spend 1-2 hours on it
Then i get frustrated and stop playing FF9.
Also, Tetra Master is terrible. I checked the actual rules behind it, and it's just not a game. If you have an attack damage of 150, it means you can deal between 0 and 150 points of damage. So if you're going up against a guy with 100 defense, you still have a huge chance that you won't deal more than 100 damage. On top of that, it's very easy to lose your cards. Fun game guys!
It always boggles my mind when people talk fondly about this card game. Triple Triad is at least somewhat customizable and easier to understand. You might not like the random rule, or the plus combo stuff, but you probably enjoy some variant of that game.
I tried the rope-skipping minigame for ten minutes and then walked away because I realized that this game is over forty hours to complete, and I can't be wasting my time on nonsense like that. Tetra Master is like a worst version of Risk that only takes about five minutes to complete. Then there's the issue of how Tetra Master results in no real intrinsic rewards unless you really want to collect every single card in the game. As I mentioned in the blog, while you can certainly argue that Triple Triad had too much of an impact on the game, Tetra Master is too much of the polar opposite.
I liked FFIX for a long time. I used to play it probably once a year throughout my teens because what else is time good for? The last time I played it though I noticed the ATB system was broken, and it ruined it for me.
The ATB gauge never pauses during attack animations as in the previous games, and anything that isn't a physical attack takes long enough that everyone gets their turn again before the rest of your party and the enemies are even done using theirs.
This means you will never get two turns in a row unless you only use one of your party members and they only do actions with fast animations and you have a high speed stat and/or haste magic. Since no normal player would play the game in such a way, the speed stat and haste magic are useless and I hate Final Fantasy IX.
I mean you can certainly slow down the combat to your preference, but if you are afflicted with "Analysis Paralysis," then this game's combat is a bit of a constant annoyance. I certainly feel as if the combat system, as you suggested, doesn't allow for a lot of planning and strategy on the part of the player. You essentially have to use your turns when they come up, and some of the animations "game" the system.
Steiner is a high strung pompous ass and I love him. I will say that he is a character that I enjoyed immensely more on my second playthrough. I can assure you that he does grow and change as a character and that may make stomaching him a bit easier. You are also right about Vivi being the best character in the game. Vivi is arguably the best character in the entire series. In fact it is Zidane's interactions with Vivi that made me like Zidane a lot more as a character. Zidane is a bit of a weak protagonist, though. He isn't as insufferable as Squall, but he definitely is not as interesting as Cloud. Zidane is simply just sort of there. At least, for the most part of the game. The real meat of his character story comes towards the later half of the game and to be honest it is a bit of a slog to play through. Zidane's past is nowhere near as compelling or intriguing as Cloud. But hey, there is no orphanage level bullshit.
I can't wait to see what you think of Quina. What a garbage fire of a character.
Steiner is honestly one joke that is stretched for two discs until he experiences an existential crisis at the tail end of Disc Two. Even if he does indeed get better, I cannot ignore the fact that he was downright intolerable for hours upon end. Same thing with Zidane! Sure he get's better, but for dozens of hours I had to watch him constantly harass Garnet every opportunity that he had.
You have warmed my heart with your comment about the orphanage. I will also confirm that I think Quina is a garbage character.
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