FFX HD Remaster for PS3 and Vita

[Gollgagh]

it was always a list

[Kanthos]

oh, what a waste of quota =(

Meh, I actually enjoyed the beta, so it wasn't all worthless, and that didn't eat up all my quota; I downloaded some other games and TV shows last month too; TESO was just the single largest culprit.

And yeah, FF X was always a list; the bar was used in IV through IX.

[prophetik music]

hmm. goes to show how much i remember.

[BardicKnowledge]

FFX-2 is the ATB bar system, Brad. And I should note that despite the hate it receives, FFX-2 has the very best, most complex of those systems ever implemented by Square Enix.

[prophetik music]

FFX-2 is the ATB bar system, Brad. And I should note that despite the hate it receives, FFX-2 has the very best, most complex of those systems ever implemented by Square Enix.

the best battle system i've played with so far in the FF series was in FFXII-2. none of the others comes even close to the flexibility, complexity, or responsiveness. great combination of in-depth theorycrafting for the best combos and twitch to keep you interested and involved, and not just slogging through five million HP using the same couple of abilities. i prefer having to set up my combos in advance far more than just swapping on the fly and you get what you get. the ability to swap instantly between tanks, dps, and support stuff, combined with no long-term damage after each battle, was awesome, and made stuff like grinding something that i wanted to do rather than something that i had to do.

[prepares to die]

that said, i like the ability to swap party members constantly in ffx, and i like the summon system too.

has anyone else lost a few hours in blitzball already?

[Annie Felis]

has anyone else lost a few hours in blitzball already?

Not yet, but I found that cheating by hiding behind your own goalie still works. It doesn't seem like they did much to fix anything, other than the opening sequence in Zanarkand seemed more streamlined (less turns for monsters), and the sphere level xp is leveled out a bit so you can't just grind in one zone to get ready for the next. Maybe it's just me, but it seems that I'm not getting as many levels from running around the Highroad.

I'm disappointed in the music, too. My favorite tune in the game (Silence Before the Storm) is a mangled mess, and I find the fanfare after every battle jarring and overly-loud. At least they didn't screw up the Blitzball theme.

[BardicKnowledge]

the best battle system i've played with so far in the FF series was in FFXII-2. none of the others comes even close to the flexibility, complexity, or responsiveness. great combination of in-depth theorycrafting for the best combos and twitch to keep you interested and involved, and not just slogging through five million HP using the same couple of abilities. i prefer having to set up my combos in advance far more than just swapping on the fly and you get what you get. the ability to swap instantly between tanks, dps, and support stuff, combined with no long-term damage after each battle, was awesome, and made stuff like grinding something that i wanted to do rather than something that i had to do.

[prepares to die]

^You mean XIII-2, not XII-2 (I wish, haha).

Did you play FFXII, Brad? The combat system there would be right up your alley, I'd think.

Also I plan on playing as little blitzball as possible -- once I unlock Wakka's weapon / overdrives / Sigil I'm out. The minigame I'll lose all my time to is X-2's Sphere Break (hooray, math!)

[prophetik music]

13-2, yes. too many letters.

i did play 12, and loved the combat system's free-flowing style, but didn't like how unresponsive it was since you could move your dudes around. i'm fine with being locked into a sequence - i just don't want the ten-second transition between the 'real world' and the fight.

[HoboKa]

Not yet, but I found that cheating by hiding behind your own goalie still works. It doesn't seem like they did much to fix anything, other than the opening sequence in Zanarkand seemed more streamlined (less turns for monsters), and the sphere level xp is leveled out a bit so you can't just grind in one zone to get ready for the next. Maybe it's just me, but it seems that I'm not getting as many levels from running around the Highroad.

I'm disappointed in the music, too. My favorite tune in the game (Silence Before the Storm) is a mangled mess, and I find the fanfare after every battle jarring and overly-loud. At least they didn't screw up the Blitzball theme.

Well I'm also resistant to change esp. when it comes to Japanese games; however, after a few listens, I actually found the HD battle theme not too annoying and the fanfare doesn't rly bug me; nostalgia has a funny way of making things seem worse than they really are. I kinda like the addition of the e-guitar for the battle theme

Buuut yeah Silence Before the Storm did not work out very well - mostly because that crystal key lead and the phased strings were altered into "better", albeit generic samples. And that weird synth thing that overlaps the keys is just...no. Bad Square Enix bad!

[Brandon Strader]

Newegg messed up everyone's order and ran out of limited edition stock, so they just mailed out standard editions to everyone despite the pre-order. They sent an email the same day it was delivered saying "Haw we did a funny, we'll refund it if you send it back, no questions asked"

So I'm trying to do that but their support system is horrible. Using the standard return page even says my game isn't eligible for return. That already goes beyond the nature of "no questions asked". Tired of dealing with awful retailers. And all this because amazon decided to start charging tax on specific states.

[prophetik music]

weird, i've never had a problem with newegg, but i've only bought components from them in the past.

just got past the mt. gagazet boss fight (spoilers). i remember this fight being easily the hardest fight in the game last run-through, but i beat it so handily this time that i didn't use wakka by accident and he didn't get the SP =P additionally i'm maxing out aeon damage literally as soon as i'm getting them. i don't know if they buffed yuna or something, but some of the generic enemies seem harder than the bosses in this one so far. (/spoiler)

additionally, i forgot just how...annoying the post-gagazet enemies are. i just don't want to fight them...i want to get to the airship again and be able to recruit and blitz and get all the big weapons and be done with this phase, which is clearly the one that is the longest/most boring in the game.

lastly, anyone who complained that FFXIII was too linear is an imbecile and hasn't looked at their games recently. this entire game has been a straight line - far more than what FFXIII was, honestly - and people eat this shit with a spoon, whereas FFXIII gets the short end of the stick. granted the storyline exists in this one, whereas 13's storywriter must have put storyline concepts into a shotgun and fired it onto the script, but in terms of gameplay and level design i'd compare the two favorably in a heartbeat.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

Considering that Toriyama was the same guy behind both FFX and FXIII, everyone should have known that they were getting a straight line(and a bug for a final boss). The fact that FFX has such a sizable fanbase has always been confusing to me since it pretty much ended any sense of non-linearity previous FF games might have had with the removal of the world map.

Not that it bugs me too much, since I'm a fan of both the X and XIII series, but apparently some people were miffed about XIII's straight line.

Edited March 25, 2014 by Malaki-LEGEND.sys

[DarkeSword]

Newegg messed up everyone's order and ran out of limited edition stock, so they just mailed out standard editions to everyone despite the pre-order. They sent an email the same day it was delivered saying "Haw we did a funny, we'll refund it if you send it back, no questions asked"

So I'm trying to do that but their support system is horrible. Using the standard return page even says my game isn't eligible for return. That already goes beyond the nature of "no questions asked". Tired of dealing with awful retailers. And all this because amazon decided to start charging tax on specific states.

Slightly off-topic, but just to be clear: Amazon is required to charge tax in any state where they have a distro center.

Also, technically, you're still supposed to pay sales tax on things you buy on Amazon, regardless of whether they charge you or not at the time of the sale; it's something you're supposed to declare on your income taxes every year. It's just that nobody ever really does it.

[HoboKa]

Slightly off-topic, but just to be clear: Amazon is required to charge tax in any state where they have a distro center.

Also, technically, you're still supposed to pay sales tax on things you buy on Amazon, regardless of whether they charge you or not at the time of the sale; it's something you're supposed to declare on your income taxes every year. It's just that nobody ever really does it.

Gotta love

=D

[Thin Crust]

Quick hint. To beat any boss in the game, get all your aeons to an overdrive. Then use them all one by one till boss dies.

Also, for anyone that has trouble on seymour at macalania temple, steal from his guards and they don't auto potion him anymore. Also use null-element to shield you from his back-to-back magic attacks.

Also this is relevant. Beware: Spoilers.

[SystemsReady]

Considering that Toriyama was the same guy behind both FFX and FXIII, everyone should have known that they were getting a straight line(and a bug for a final boss). The fact that FFX has such a sizable fanbase has always been confusing to me since it pretty much ended any sense of non-linearity previous FF games might have had with the removal of the world map.

Not that it bugs me too much, since I'm a fan of both the X and XIII series, but apparently some people were miffed about XIII's straight line.

IMO, the world map isn't even that big of a loss. From all the other FF games I've played, the world map only seemed to exist to foist random encounters on you while you try to find the next location you should go to (a la D&D). Hardly a useful feature, and it doesn't work very well with story urgency if you're just running around a peninsula grinding.

I have to wonder who is really up-in-arms about it, too. The only people I can imagine being mad about it are diehard FF purists; smaller series like Persona are linear-as-hell, most mainstream modern games are linear-as-hell, and JRPGs are a completely different genre than WRPGs.

[Annie Felis]

Well I'm also resistant to change esp. when it comes to Japanese games; however, after a few listens, I actually found the HD battle theme not too annoying and the fanfare doesn't rly bug me; nostalgia has a funny way of making things seem worse than they really are. I kinda like the addition of the e-guitar for the battle theme

Buuut yeah Silence Before the Storm did not work out very well - mostly because that crystal key lead and the phased strings were altered into "better", albeit generic samples. And that weird synth thing that overlaps the keys is just...no. Bad Square Enix bad!

So far, the songs I have problems with are Uematsu's. I think what ruined it for me was the volume of this single flute note that went on for eight or so measures was so loud I'd hear it over the melody. A few songs had that problem, like the obnoxious thing about the battle theme to me was the rhythm guitar was too loud and crunchy sounding. That could be in part shitty samples, but still. The first time I heard Auron's theme it just sounded...wrong to me, but I can't exactly say why other than maybe his instrument/sample choices are crap. It's like things where all fine on whatever computer he mixed these things on, but the final product is all out of whack. Either that or being in the Black Mages for a while has made him lose his edge at remixing his own stuff. I mean compare his FFIX stuff to his tunes in FFXHD.

Meanwhile some of the other tunes are so much better. Mihen Highroad is even more bouncy and ridiculous, and the Blitzball theme is only slightly enhanced. Hey, why fix it if it's great to begin with? Anyway I think I know what to expect from the songs I haven't heard yet, depending on the composer.

[HoboKa]

So far, the songs I have problems with are Uematsu's. I think what ruined it for me was the volume of this single flute note that went on for eight or so measures was so loud I'd hear it over the melody. A few songs had that problem, like the obnoxious thing about the battle theme to me was the rhythm guitar was too loud and crunchy sounding. That could be in part shitty samples, but still. The first time I heard Auron's theme it just sounded...wrong to me, but I can't exactly say why other than maybe his instrument/sample choices are crap. It's like things where all fine on whatever computer he mixed these things on, but the final product is all out of whack. Either that or being in the Black Mages for a while has made him lose his edge at remixing his own stuff. I mean compare his FFIX stuff to his tunes in FFXHD.

Meanwhile some of the other tunes are so much better. Mihen Highroad is even more bouncy and ridiculous, and the Blitzball theme is only slightly enhanced. Hey, why fix it if it's great to begin with? Anyway I think I know what to expect from the songs I haven't heard yet, depending on the composer.

Maybe Uematsu's been listening to OCR for too long =p

...yeah got nothing sorry.

EDIT

Actually maybe it's like the George Lucas effect - if it ain't broke, don't fix it kind of thing.

Edited March 27, 2014 by HoboKa

[Brandon Strader]

I was actually thinking based on the description it sounds like it's opposite OCR, where melodies tend to be the focus and other stuff kinda gets pushed back. It's not usually always done that way and sometimes it's pretty wild to be reminded that music is mixed differently outside of OCR. Just saying, it's a pretty cool thing when you notice it, not that there's anything wrong with either style. Most important is getting the song how you want it to sound. If they accomplished that, good on 'em. Nothing I've heard from the hd OST so far has seemed irredeemably bad though I'm still not quite sold on that battle theme.

[Annie Felis]

I was actually thinking based on the description it sounds like it's opposite OCR, where melodies tend to be the focus and other stuff kinda gets pushed back. It's not usually always done that way and sometimes it's pretty wild to be reminded that music is mixed differently outside of OCR. Just saying, it's a pretty cool thing when you notice it, not that there's anything wrong with either style. Most important is getting the song how you want it to sound. If they accomplished that, good on 'em. Nothing I've heard from the hd OST so far has seemed irredeemably bad though I'm still not quite sold on that battle theme.

Maybe it's because Uematsu's current style isn't what it was ten years ago, so it seems off? Like we expect one thing, and get another?

I don't know, maybe it's just a bit of a nostalgia kill for me and that's why his remixes for the game don't sound right. I've been using video game soundtracks as work music for a long time, FFX OST included. It's kind of weird and jarring for me to hear songs I'm very familiar with not having the same kind of sound as they used to. There were other remakes/rereleases that didn't mess with the music too much, like Wild Arms: Alter Code F, or Metroid: Zero Mission. The music was enhanced, not really remixed. I guess I was expecting FFXHD to be more like that, and less heavy on remixing.

[Meteo Xavier]

Uematsu did not work on the remaster.

It was mostly Masashi Hamauzu and Junya Nakano, with Tsutomu Narita, Ryo Yamazaki and Hirosato Noda making "select" contributions.

Your beef is with one of them.

[orlouge82]

Considering that Toriyama was the same guy behind both FFX and FXIII, everyone should have known that they were getting a straight line(and a bug for a final boss). The fact that FFX has such a sizable fanbase has always been confusing to me since it pretty much ended any sense of non-linearity previous FF games might have had with the removal of the world map.

Not that it bugs me too much, since I'm a fan of both the X and XIII series, but apparently some people were miffed about XIII's straight line.

All Final Fantasy games are a straight line, with or without the world map. The world map merely gives the player the illusion of non-linearity, but it's still very much there (as someone else stated, all it really did was allow for random encounters). 99% of the time, there was always one destination that the player was supposed to go to next, and there were always barriers (mountains, streams, oceans, etc) that prevented the player for accessing areas that he or she was not supposed to yet.

Check out SaGa Frontier if you want an actual non-linear JRPG...of course, it didn't do that well with Western audiences because of how non-linear it is.

[prophetik music]

so i forgot to get the energy blast upgrade from besaid when i left, and the two temples i didn't use the destruction sphere in were besaid and macalania. surprise, the dark aeons guard these specific areas and prevent you from getting anything from then until you fight them. the easiest, dark valefor, has 800k HP and stats in the hundreds. this means i cannot get anima (or, by extension, magus sisters) unless i spend 20 hours grinding stats in the monster center, OR spend ten hours paying yojimbo through the nose to murderface besaid island fiends to get my compatibility up. then, i have a 1/4 chance of him using zanmato on dark valefor and dark shiva.

while i like the addition of superbosses to the game (i felt there wasn't enough high-end material in the original version, although i didn't get into it), i wish that they were optional in regards to the majority of the game. right now, i'm screwed out of 25% of the summons, unless i grind everything forever and ever until my stats are triple what they are now.

if anyone hears of a trainer (my game is legit, but my PS3 can run homebrew) or anything, that'd be fantastic. don't care what it does as long as i can turn it off after disposing of those two dark aeons.

[Gollgagh]

Check out SaGa Frontier if you want an actual non-linear JRPG...of course, it didn't do that well with Western audiences because of how non-linear it is.

I fucking love the shit out of SaGa Frontier

also! Legend of Mana

[Meteo Xavier]

All Final Fantasy games are a straight line, with or without the world map. The world map merely gives the player the illusion of non-linearity

That's pretty hyperbolic and not quite that true. While the plots and mostly the events of the FF series are the same each time you play it, the actual game itself is not the same every time you play through it. This is what allows people to enjoy it dozens of times through.

I've never understood the linearity vs non-linearity debate, mostly why linearity is such a distaste in the first place. I've found non-linear games tend to be formless blobs that make it more difficult to push forward when you want to. It's a matter of taste, but gamers treat it like objective flaws.