The Last To Post Wins!

[DragonFlames]

2 minutes ago, lightcosmo said:

I can see your point about Rex, I suppose I don't mind him that much. What about him makes him bland to you? Out of curiosity, of course.

It's not that I exactly dislike him, either, but I find it hard to like him, because there's nothing about him that really makes him a compelling character to me. It's a little hard to explain, but what I like in a protagonist is when they have a presence, be it by an interesting personality or a great character arc, preferably both. Rex, to me, has neither of those things.
He's generic, I guess, even if I don't like to use that word.

[Lightcosmo]

19 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

It's not that I exactly dislike him, either, but I find it hard to like him, because there's nothing about him that really makes him a compelling character to me. It's a little hard to explain, but what I like in a protagonist is when they have a presence, be it by an interesting personality or a great character arc, preferably both. Rex, to me, has neither of those things.
He's generic, I guess, even if I don't like to use that word.

No, I understand, and I also think that his character isn't the greatest, to me either. I overall like the Torna cast more, either way.

[Armagon]

9 hours ago, Falcom Knight said:

Ryza is not the typical Atelier games in many ways.

It sets standards perhaps none of the other Atelier games will ever meet.

I don't agree with that last sentiment. I still prefer Atelier's traditional turn-based combat and item use and while the character events are good, there's not enough of them compared to other games in the series. Ryza does a lot of things right but it isn't the new gold standard.

1 hour ago, DragonFlames said:

I read that Nomura did the Torna characters. That would explain why Jin looks the way he does. Not to rag on the guy, because he's proving himself to be a pretty cool character, but he wouldn't look out of place in a Final Fantasy game.

Jin's JP VA also voiced Cloud Strife, so there's another Final Fantasy connection. And unrelated to that, the same JP voice actor also voiced Rohan Kishibe from JoJo Part 4. That's all i know off the top of my head regarding his JP VA.

1 hour ago, DragonFlames said:

The implementation of these Field Skills certainly could have used some major overhaul, though.

I would've been fine if it took all the Field Skills you had into account, not just the ones belonging to the currently equipped Blades. But when you have to switch out Blades just to complete a Field Skill check multiple times, it gets annoying. I don't even know why Field Skills are there. Xenoblade 1 lacked them completely, X only had them for very specific uses and Torna has a set cast, meaning you aren't switching out Blades for Field Skill checks (because you can't). And 2 is the only one where Field Skills are mandatory for story progression.

I don't want to see Field Skills in the next game tbh.

2 hours ago, DragonFlames said:

Rex being a little boring in comparison to everyone else in the cast (along with his alleged romance with Pyra not doing much for me due to a lack of chemistry between them, in my opinion, at the very least)

Yeeeeeeeah. I do think it works fine but it's definitely rather basic compared to the Xeno romances that came before.

53 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

great character arc,

Once analyzed, i think Rex does get that. I mean, it's not the best character arc but there is a lot of Plato philosophy woven into Rex's character that makes me like him more. I can't really talk about it in detail without spoiling the whole game so i'll just not talk about it until you beat the game.

ALTHOUGH in regards to personality, i get what you mean. But i really like how incredibly casual he is (which is where his English VA truly shines btw) and his chemisty with everyone in the party works to the benefit of the game. This whole casualness is probably why he's my favorite Xeno protag. Not the best Xeno protag, that goes to Fei from Xenogears and Fei is fantastic (and deadass, Fei hasn't been topped for me, i have yet to find a better protagonist in any game, Xeno or otherwise and honestly, i'm not really trying to) but i resonate with Rex more. I just really like casual characters.

While Rex isn't the best Xeno protag, i do think he's a better protagonist than Shulk and that is a spicy take but i'll talk about that another time.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Another boring "working day" done... godthanks

14 minutes ago, Armagon said:

I don't agree with that last sentiment. I still prefer Atelier's traditional turn-based combat and item use and while the character events are good, there's not enough of them compared to other games in the series. Ryza does a lot of things right but it isn't the new gold standard.

Ryza has a battle system I haven't seen in this form yet and I find very well implemented.

I like the mix of round based and being actionbased, and this comes by someone who absolutely doesn't like Final Fantasy's battle system at all.

It's better than FF for the reason the turnorder is shown.

Sure, it can become hectic later on,and I'm sure I'll press wrong buttons at the wrong time :D, but I like that the player has to become active by giving decisions in time and still having the knowledge what's going on.

Static round based battles are classic, but somehow I get tired of them.

[Interdimensional Observer]

13 hours ago, lightcosmo said:

Arts TP gain XX is great for this, as getting 200? TP per art goes by really quickly. And it's easy to acquire so its efficient too.

Yep, first thing I did in the postgame was craft one of those things. Farming the Mortifoles, Aeviters, and Viragoes probably took an hour or something, but it was insanely worth it. Makes Overdrive possible for anyone to do with ease. Stack it with the TP Overdrive skill from mastering Astral Crusader for 350 TP once you're in Overdrive.

 

57 minutes ago, Armagon said:

I don't even know why Field Skills are there. Xenoblade 1 lacked them completely, X only had them for very specific uses

Two uses to be precise. Opening "treasure chests" and in the case of Mechanical (which opens some chests too), setting up FrontierNav sites. Chests are the primary source of BP for leveling Arts and Skills, which is important, and it gets you a bunch of Casual Wear, money, a few so-so but free Augments, and the vast majority of your Probes.

Yet, chests not being that major, all you really need to do is get Mechanical to 4 ASAP and then use a guide for the appropriate Off the Record mission later. Since if you don't have the proper level to set up FrontierNav sites, you'll find your quick travel abilities greatly curtailed. 

I like Field Skills myself because they add a bit of complexity to interacting with the environment you're supposed to explore. But, don't tie it at all to a gatcha system. There are much better ways to handle it. If it wasn't tedious to obtain, I'd rather have gear that gives me the "field skills", not unlike Breath of the Wild and its temperatures and flame/electricity immunity. But make this gear more "key items" and not stuff you must absolutely wear at the cost of visual customization and or gameplay combat stats.

 

57 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Yeeeeeeeah. I do think it works fine but it's definitely rather basic compared to the Xeno romances that came before.

Were there any good romances in Xenosaga? No significant details necessary, I'm just curious. As it stands, I'd say Monolith has written four-five good romances from what I've played, excluding the romance unrequited. And I know you can't believe it, one of those romances is not BartxMargie, that one is transcendently bad!

 

57 minutes ago, Armagon said:

While Rex isn't the best Xeno protag, i do think he's a better protagonist than Shulk and that is a spicy take but i'll talk about that another time.

Stay spicy my friend. Not that I have anything against Shulk. I'm not sure how I'd rank Rex vs. Shulk myself. Fei aces them both of course. Elma vs. anyone is TBA for now. KOS-MOS is -HEY IT'S KOS-MOS CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!?🤩🎉 And Shion "accidentally" wandered into a dimensional anomaly in a far corner of the universe and became lost, and as a result her existence was in a half-hour distorted to the point of annihilation from not only the present, but the past as well, as if she never existed at all.

 

 

On Rex, before I even played XC2, I developed an utterly irrational dislike for Rex based on me getting too attached to the Torna cast and thinking he would... . Well I'm not sure what Rex would do, other than be overly perfect or overly destined or something and thus trample over the Torna cast in some way, or dragging down Mythra. In practice, Rex might have elicited a few eyerolls from me for generic pep and overconfidence or something, but I came to like him, not great, but he had enough charm to overcome his flaws. 

To be fair, I do have some likings for shota characters and gentle males, Genis and Jude are two Tales characters I like, Lugh is likely in my top 5 Binding Blade characters, Sephiran is my arguably favorite Tellius character and Rolf in is the top 10. Albeit not all shotas or gentle young men appeal to me- Milton was mostly a bother in Torna, Emil is ToS: DotNW is bit too pathetic, and Bravely Second's Yew is eh to annoying for me (but Tiz is my boyfriend I killed Agnes and brainwashed him). 

Edited March 23, 2020 by Interdimensional Observer

[Armagon]

26 minutes ago, Falcom Knight said:

Ryza has a battle system I haven't seen in this form yet and I find very well implemented.

I like the mix of round based and being actionbased, and this comes by someone who absolutely doesn't like Final Fantasy's battle system at all.

Oh don't get me wrong. I do like Ryza's combat for the most part but the combat isn't as good as the latter two Dusk games or Lulua's.

Also Core Charges are dumb and they are the biggest flaw with the combat system.

4 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

If it wasn't tedious to obtain, I'd rather have gear that gives me the "field skills", not unlike Breath of the Wild and its temperatures and flame/electricity immunity.

I wouldn't mind this. Though preferably it takes up it's own slots so you don't have to take off better gear just to get past a Field Skill check. 

5 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Were there any good romances in Xenosaga? No significant details necessary, I'm just curious.

One kinda. But it's not given enough time to properly develop. 

Xenosaga's romances are the weakest in the series imo. But tbh, Xenosaga wasn't really concerned with romance. Although that could be because Xenosaga was cut down before it could properly finish. Who knows.

11 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Stay spicy my friend. Not that I have anything against Shulk. I'm not sure how I'd rank Rex vs. Shulk myself.

I don't got anything against Shulk either (i like all the Xeno protags) but when comparing the two, i personally found myself like Rex's journey more. Although i will say that Shulk's motivations for going on his beats Rex's. Actually, Shulk probably has the most compelling motivation out of all the Xeno protags imo. 

17 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

KOS-MOS is -HEY IT'S KOS-MOS CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!?🤩🎉 And Shion "accidentally" wandered into a dimensional anomaly in a far corner of the universe and became lost, and as a result her existence was in a half-hour distorted to the point of annihilation from not only the present, but the past as well, as if she never existed at all.

I'm still mildy upset that KOS-MOS took all the popularity when Shion is the way better character.

I wouldn't have minded a Shion Blade in Xenoblade 2. I mean, we already have KOS-MOS and T-elos, why not add a third Xenosaga rep?

[Lightcosmo]

2 hours ago, Armagon said:

Although that could be because Xenosaga was cut down before it could properly finish. Who knows.

Dont remind me, its saddening! 

[Armagon]

Takes a while to get going but Godzilla GMK is pretty good. With that, i have seen all of the Millenium Godzilla movies except for Final Wars, which i will watch much later. Final Wars is a 50th anniversary film so i want to familiarize myself with a lot more Godzilla Kaiju before watching it.

Also, the beginning of GMK gives a hot roast to Godzilla 98

 

You know, i'm on a quest to watch every Godzilla and King Kong movie. My list has currently reached 10 watched movies but only one of them is a King Kong film (well two but King Kong vs Godzilla is a crossover). As such, the next movie up on the list will be King King 2005. And boy, it better be good because that movie is three hours and 25 minutes long. To compare, Avengers: Endgame is three hours and two minutes long.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Crossbell City is truly a huge place.

Took me almost two hours aka - my entire afternoon - to get through.

Designwise it's definitely one of my absolute favorite cities in Zemuria.

Very aesthetic, especially the little China Town.

 

3 hours ago, Armagon said:

Oh don't get me wrong. I do like Ryza's combat for the most part but the combat isn't as good as the latter two Dusk games or Lulua's.

Also Core Charges are dumb and they are the biggest flaw with the combat system.

Personally I like core changes as I like TP regain after each battle.

Gives way more flexibility.

In Lulua I had to avoid battles once my team was out of TP.

[Lightchao42]

Since I've recently finished the main plots of Astral Chain and Luigi's Mansion 3, it's finally time for my long awaited second playthough of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (technically I "started" it last year, but I never left Argentum). I want to play it properly this time and hopefully it won't take too long for me to get KOS-MOS. I might decide to get Animal Crossing Eternal before my birthday next month, but I'm not getting DOOM: New Horizons until it releases on the Switch. Now I just have to wait for Xenoblade Definitive Edition to get a release date, but I expect it to come out soon-ish.

30 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Takes a while to get going but Godzilla GMK is pretty good. With that, i have seen all of the Millenium Godzilla movies except for Final Wars, which i will watch much later. Final Wars is a 50th anniversary film so i want to familiarize myself with a lot more Godzilla Kaiju before watching it.

Did you see Godzilla vs. Megaguirus yet? It's the other Millennium movie you haven't seen, unless you did see it and I just missed you mentioning it.

Edited March 23, 2020 by Lightchao42

[Armagon]

14 minutes ago, Lightchao42 said:

Did you see Godzilla vs. Megaguirus yet?

Actually i have not. I thought that was Heisei Godzilla film. Oops, my bad. I'll probably watch Godzilla vs Megaguirus after King Kong 2005.

[DragonFlames]

4 hours ago, Armagon said:

Jin's JP VA also voiced Cloud Strife, so there's another Final Fantasy connection. And unrelated to that, the same JP voice actor also voiced Rohan Kishibe from JoJo Part 4. That's all i know off the top of my head regarding his JP VA.

... Why does this make almost too much sense?
Although I don't think it'll surprise you if I say Jin >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Cloud

4 hours ago, Armagon said:

I would've been fine if it took all the Field Skills you had into account, not just the ones belonging to the currently equipped Blades. But when you have to switch out Blades just to complete a Field Skill check multiple times, it gets annoying.

If it was like what you said in the bolded part, I wouldn't even have minded them so much. I think it's a neat idea to have characters that have abilities that can be used in the overworld (see Dragon Star Varnir), but in Xenoblade 2, this can be a problem if the gacha-like system decides to screw you over and never give you any Field Skills you might need, such as the one I think would be called Ancient Knowledge in English (the one Dromarch comes with), which you need very frequently, but because only Dromarch and Aegaeon have it among the Blades I currently own, I usually fail the higher level checks, which adds further annoyance to everything.
Which is why

4 hours ago, Armagon said:

I don't want to see Field Skills in the next game tbh.

 

4 hours ago, Armagon said:

Yeeeeeeeah. I do think it works fine but it's definitely rather basic compared to the Xeno romances that came before.

Well, maybe I judged it too early, since I'm not exactly close to finishing the game (just got started on Chapter 7 and reached the part where you told me to put Tora in the lead - thank you for that, by the way!), but from what I've been seeing so far it's... a bit on the "meh" side. I just don't think the characters work well together, is all.
I currently stand by my opinion that Rex has better chemistry with Nia. Particularly after that one scene in the cave, where he hands her some air in a bottle. Spaceballs reference!

4 hours ago, Armagon said:

Once analyzed, i think Rex does get that. I mean, it's not the best character arc but there is a lot of Plato philosophy woven into Rex's character that makes me like him more. I can't really talk about it in detail without spoiling the whole game so i'll just not talk about it until you beat the game.

That is again perhaps due to me drawing conclusions too early. Maybe his character arc will improve in the coming chapters. It does have the potential to do so, but I won't get my hopes up.

4 hours ago, Armagon said:

ALTHOUGH in regards to personality, i get what you mean. But i really like how incredibly casual he is (which is where his English VA truly shines btw) and his chemisty with everyone in the party works to the benefit of the game. This whole casualness is probably why he's my favorite Xeno protag. Not the best Xeno protag, that goes to Fei from Xenogears and Fei is fantastic (and deadass, Fei hasn't been topped for me, i have yet to find a better protagonist in any game, Xeno or otherwise and honestly, i'm not really trying to) but i resonate with Rex more. I just really like casual characters.

While Rex isn't the best Xeno protag, i do think he's a better protagonist than Shulk and that is a spicy take but i'll talk about that another time.

For me, his shortcomings wouldn't even be so obvious and I'd probably like him a lot more if the other characters in his party weren't so damn amazing! Zeke, Nia, Tora, Morag, Poppi, the other Blades... they're all pretty fantastic characters and they set a standard that Rex doesn't live up to.
But, as I said many times before, it's not like I absolutely hate the guy, either.

I don't think Rex getting punched not once, not twice, but three times (well, the third was a gentle tap, but still) by the different girls in his then party was meant to be hilarious, but it still elicited a chuckle out of me. Particularly when Nia punched him through some barrels. I don't know why, but I laughed at that one.

[Interdimensional Observer]

1 hour ago, DragonFlames said:

... Why does this make almost too much sense?
Although I don't think it'll surprise you if I say Jin >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Cloud

I'd cut it down to Jin > Cloud -if I were you- when considering the original Cloud, it's only fairness. The edgy emo "Nomura Cloud" is not Cloud (says someone who has never watched Advent Children or played Kingdom Hearts) as I saw him in FFVII. He did crossdress once in FFVII to save his friends, why would an emolord do that?

Cloud in FFVII is badass, and a bit cocky for it, but he's still always kind to Tifa. And, to go into major FFVII spoilers:

Spoiler

The badass Cloud is a persona he constructed after his mind got put into a debilitating torpor due to being shoved into a vat of liquid energy. Cloud emerged from this coma only after a friend he had made, Zack, died in front of him trying to protect them both, with Cloud crawling right next to Zack's sword.

Prior to the coma and emergence from it, Cloud was never badass. He was pathetic and left home in hopes of becoming an elite soldier so he could protect and impress the girl he loved. He had failed to become those things when he returned home and was embarrassed by it.

When Cloud awoke from his coma, it was in front of Tifa. So presumably at that point everything congealed into false memories and a false sense of self. To impress Tifa and feel self-confident, he stole the identity of his dead friend Zack, who was a badass soldier.

This persona holds until over halfway in the game, when Cloud is shown some of his true memories where Zack exists. And this, combined with a little manipulation from a villain, and the death of a certain someone, utterly demoralizes Cloud and breaks his fragile mind into resignation, submission, and despair. 

Cloud then falls into the underground river of the planet's energy, putting him into another torpor, so crippling he can't speak coherent sentences and needs a wheelchair. (If you optionally talk to him, he does utter some babble, ending in the word "Xenogears", which was pitched as one possible FFVII, but was instead deemed too dark, yet was funded anyhow.)

When he falls into the energy river again after an earthquake, this time Tifa is with him, and she explores his mind and helps him remember who he really was and what happened. He admits in full his love for Tifa too, and together they reassemble his mind and he emerges with Tifa from his mental paralysis.

Then Cloud and Tifa return to the other heroes to save the world. Cloud acts cool and serious again to lead everyone, but he does so knowing who he really is, not because of an unintended lie.

Jin is nice, and "FF is overrated" is perfectly fine to believe.* Yet, original Cloud, if you understand who he really is, actually a good character. Of course, that requires playing VII in all its aged glory to near-completion first. Thats a turnoff I totally understand.

I am not biased towards FFVII FYI. Gameplay favorite FF is V (and Tactics Advance 2), musically it's VI, but I guess Cloud might actually be my favorite main protag of the franchise, even if I'd want it to be Terra. Lastly, I'd like to retire in the tropics of Spira, but first I must thoroughly cleanse the planet of bad plot.

 

*You better never play VII in German, the English translation is already flawed. I heard the original German translation is as coherent in that game its 3D graphics are beautiful by modern standards.

Edited March 23, 2020 by Interdimensional Observer

[DragonFlames]

38 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I'd cut it down to Jin > Cloud -if I were you- when considering the original Cloud, it's only fairness. The edgy emo "Nomura Cloud" is not Cloud (says someone who has never watched Advent Children or played Kingdom Hearts) as I saw him in FFVII. He did crossdress once in FFVII to save his friends, why would an emolord do that?

Cloud in FFVII is badass, and a bit cocky for it, but he's still always kind to Tifa. And, to go into major FFVII spoilers:

  Reveal hidden contents

The badass Cloud is a persona he constructed after his mind got put into a debilitating torpor due to being shoved into a vat of liquid energy. Cloud emerged from this coma only after a friend he had made, Zack, died in front of him trying to protect them both, with Cloud crawling right next to Zack's sword.

Prior to the coma and emergence from it, Cloud was never badass. He was pathetic and left home in hopes of becoming an elite soldier so he could protect and impress the girl he loved. He had failed to become those things when he returned home and was embarrassed by it.

When Cloud awoke from his coma, it was in front of Tifa. So presumably at that point everything congealed into false memories and a false sense of self. To impress Tifa and feel self-confident, he stole the identity of his dead friend Zack, who was a badass soldier.

This persona holds until over halfway in the game, when Cloud is shown some of his true memories where Zack exists. And this, combined with a little manipulation from a villain, and the death of a certain someone, utterly demoralizes Cloud and breaks his fragile mind into resignation, submission, and despair. 

Cloud then falls into the underground river of the planet's energy, putting him into another torpor, so crippling he can't speak coherent sentences and needs a wheelchair. (If you optionally talk to him, he does utter some babble, ending in the word "Xenogears", which was pitched as one possible FFVII, but was instead deemed too dark, yet was funded anyhow.)

When he falls into the energy river again after an earthquake, this time Tifa is with him, and she explores his mind and helps him remember who he really was and what happened. He admits in full his love for Tifa too, and together they reassemble his mind and he emerges with Tifa from his mental paralysis.

Then Cloud and Tifa return to the other heroes to save the world. Cloud acts cool and serious again to lead everyone, but he does so knowing who he really is, not because of an unintended lie.

Jin is nice, and "FF is overrated" is perfectly fine to believe.* Yet, original Cloud, if you understand who he really is, actually a good character. Of course, that requires playing VII in all its aged glory to near-completion first. Thats a turnoff I totally understand.

You're right, that post was made in ignorance about who Cloud truly is. I only ever saw him in Advent Children (I actually kinda liked that movie) and from what little I've seen of some FFVII spin-offs a friend of mine played, as well as all the memes about him.
I realize that mistake now and I would like to apologize for it.

38 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I am not biased towards FFVII FYI. Gameplay favorite FF is V (and Tactics Advance 2), musically it's VI, but I guess Cloud might actually be my favorite main protag of the franchise, even if I'd want it to be Terra. Lastly, I'd like to retire in the tropics of Spira, but first I must thoroughly cleanse the planet of bad plot.

X' plot wasn't that bad, was it?
My favorite Final Fantasy game of the ones I've played (X, X-2, XII, XII: Revenant Wings (don't play this one!), XIII, XIII-2, a little bit of VI, and a bit of XV) is XII. X has the better combat system, but XII wins in nearly every other category for me.

---

Xenoblade 2 has given me plenty of materials for new wallpapers. This game is so damned beautiful.

Edited March 23, 2020 by DragonFlames
added spoilers for image size reasons

[Acacia Sgt]

While I get the overhype, I'd say I liked VII just fine. Though my most favorite FF is more on the likes of IV.

[Shrimpica]

On the finish lines of Zero No Kiseki

Spoiler

Best Girl, time to do it, Finish the Final Boss off

Spoiler

PHOENIX
WAVE

Spoiler

AWWWWW :3 :3 :3

Spoiler

o7

Spoiler

Man, what a journey. Exactly what i wanted as a follow up to Trails in the Sky

[Lightcosmo]

3 hours ago, DragonFlames said:

X' plot wasn't that bad, was it?
My favorite Final Fantasy game of the ones I've played (X, X-2, XII, XII: Revenant Wings (don't play this one!), XIII, XIII-2, a little bit of VI, and a bit of XV) is XII. X has the better combat system, but XII wins in nearly every other category for me.

---

Xenoblade 2 has given me plenty of materials for new wallpapers. This game is so damned beautiful.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

X's plot was fine, in my opinion. 

Xenoblade 2's lands are gorgeous to look at, in every area! Uraya is still my favorite, of course.

[Interdimensional Observer]

3 hours ago, DragonFlames said:

I realize that mistake now and I would like to apologize for it.

No problemo! Cloud is easily misunderstood by anyone not familiar with his original unremade game. 

 

3 hours ago, DragonFlames said:

X' plot wasn't that bad, was it?

I blame it all on Sin's toxins.

Well, I mean, I know the "evil religion" cliche done poorly can often be a JRPG problem, and it's FFX's handling specifically of religion which bothers me. Maybe I'm showing bias here because I love Tales of Symphonia (which comprised one of my very first not-Mario/Pokemon JRPGs, FFX came waaay later), despite its religion having problems too. (And Amalthus is evil too, I can't hide that.)

I will acknowledge that FFX did try to balance organized evil with Yuna's/summoners' devotion, shared by the masses of Spira. Having a failed attempt at balance is better than none at all.

Other than religion, the dedicated romance scene between Tidus and Yuna being an eyeroll, and a minor nitpick of Kimahri being fillery, I didn't mind FFX's narrative actually. Perhaps Wakka's mindset is a bit too stereotypical "warm but close-minded rural". Oh, and maybe I'm little mixed on Seymour, or maybe I've just realized his voice is weird and his hair defies all logic. Otherwise I was exaggerating.

As an aside, I would've gone serious for X-2 instead of relaxed had I the choice, but I can respect their chosen direction. Not so much Rikku's X-2 redesign, but Yuna's is pretty fine.

Edited March 24, 2020 by Interdimensional Observer

[Lightcosmo]

5 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

As an aside, I would've gone serious for X-2 instead of relaxed had I the choice, but I can respect their chosen direction. Not so much Rikku's X-2 redesign, but Yuna's is pretty fine.

Hey, X-2 is a great game! Not saying that because I played it about 15 times in a row, either.

[Acacia Sgt]

I'd say, found X-2 a bit overwhelming at first... by the end I was like, "Screw it, Catnip+TriggerHappy everything!"

It was the first FF game I played, hah.

[Interdimensional Observer]

6 minutes ago, lightcosmo said:

Hey, X-2 is a great game! Not saying that because I played it about 15 times in a row, either.

My original PS3 died sometime after I made it to Chapter 3, and I never started another file on my second PS3 to try going through the whole thing. Compared to the very easy Chapters 1 and 2, 3 was a major difficulty spike from what I played of it.

I did like the Dress-sphere system, since I like having jobs to play with. But I was concerned I wouldn't get Lady Luck later due to the minigame required demanding too much quick wit from me.

[Acacia Sgt]

Oh man...

This... this is so well done...

[DragonFlames]

(major spoilers for Xenoblade 2 following)
wat

WAT?!?

Okay, I expected many things, but not... that.
Even if it was heavily foreshadowed, but that made the actual reveal (in more ways than one, I realize) all the better.

---

2 hours ago, Shrimperor said:

On the finish lines of Zero No Kiseki

  Reveal hidden contents

Best Girl, time to do it, Finish the Final Boss off

  Reveal hidden contents

PHOENIX
WAVE

  Reveal hidden contents

AWWWWW :3 :3 :3

  Reveal hidden contents

o7

  Reveal hidden contents

Man, what a journey. Exactly what i wanted as a follow up to Trails in the Sky

Congrats! Seems like you got your Trails spirit back!

31 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I blame it all on Sin's toxins.

Well, I mean, I know the "evil religion" cliche done poorly can often be a JRPG problem, and it's FFX's handling specifically of religion which bothers me. Maybe I'm showing bias here because I love Tales of Symphonia (which comprised one of my very first not-Mario/Pokemon JRPGs, FFX came waaay later), despite its religion having problems too.

tbf, Tales of Symphonia is basically Final Fantasy X's story done better.

32 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Other than religion, the dedicated romance scene between Tidus and Yuna being an eyeroll, and a minor nitpick of Kimahri being fillery, I didn't mind FFX's narrative actually. Perhaps Wakka's mindset is a bit too stereotypical "warm but close-minded rural". Oh, and maybe I'm little mixed on Seymour, or maybe I've just realized his voice is weird and his hair defies all logic.

I agree with all of this, honestly.
On Seymour: I once saw a video where he was called "evil Winnie the Pooh" because of his voice. I can't take him seriously anymore after that.

As for X-2 I haven't actually finished it, because the abundance of minigames that I personally didn't really have fun with turned me off.

[Interdimensional Observer]

2 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

Okay, I expected many things, but not... that.
Even if it was heavily foreshadowed, but that made the actual reveal (in more ways than one, I realize) all the better.

I was wondering how you'd react to that.

Spoiler

Any EXP Nia would've earned while in her Blade form is converted into BEXP I believe. So you can use her this way without worries of her falling behind on levels. You'll just need others to do the healing, but Nia herself has a healing art.

And for foreshadowing, retrospectively, it does make sense when you consider she would've been the only ordinary person in Torna if she wasn't this way. Torna is Malos + outcasts.

I really enjoyed the Zeke scene earlier as well. It endeared me much more to Pandoria. The things you learn while spelunking through stifling caves, it was a good way to have meaningful narrative en route to the final destination.

The insta-friendzoning of Rex towards Blade Nia was kinda funny too.

 

[Lightcosmo]

33 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

My original PS3 died sometime after I made it to Chapter 3, and I never started another file on my second PS3 to try going through the whole thing. Compared to the very easy Chapters 1 and 2, 3 was a major difficulty spike from what I played of it.

I did like the Dress-sphere system, since I like having jobs to play with. But I was concerned I wouldn't get Lady Luck later due to the minigame required demanding too much quick wit from me.

You mean sphere break against Shinra? Yeah, it's really hard. Too bad you didn't finish it!