Together Retro: Final Fantasy Spin-Offs

[noiseredux]

I must have beaten Mystic Quest back in the day. I mean, I don't remember the end but I played it a lot and it was fairly easy. I have played most of the mainline FF games along with many spin-offs (all of the GB games, Tactics, TA, A2, and so on), however I've beaten very few. I just often get to a point in FF games where I'm like "alright, I'm good now." Not that I'm necessarily bored or hating the game, but just I end up feeling like I'm all set, that I've gotten enough enjoyment out of the game and feel like playing something else.

I'm actually one of the defenders of XIII, and yet I never finished it. Loved it, but didn't feel the need to beat it. I have a well chronicled love/hate relationship with VII, and tend to start it over again every five or so years. I actually think that of the main numbered series, the first entry might be the only one I've actually beaten. I've definitely beaten more spin-offs than mainline FF games.

Anyway, I'm about five hours into Type-0 now and still enjoying it. The story is still a huge mess though. I really don't know who anyone is or what's going on. And I don't care. At this point I'm happy to just sum it up as "some different kingdoms on this world map are at some kind of huge war." That's enough story for me here. In fact, I've started skipping a lot of the cut scenes because I don't care and because they're often just bad/baffling.

There's also some weird choices. I have to sit through a class to learn new stuff right? But it's the same 10 second cut scene of a class room. Why? I have to go to one room to initiate a mission, but then run back to the class to START that mission. There's two loading screens between these two rooms. So basically 4 loading screens to start EVERY mission. ugh.

The game as a GAME is quite fun, though. And messing around with various characters in the roster has been cool. Ace is generally my go to with his sweet bow and arrow. Though Cater is kind of a new favorite with her hard-hitting gun attack. Much like how I adore FF Tactics, yet care not about the story, I think this is sort of in the same situation. Not that I love this exactly. But I like it way more as just a series of missions/battles sans story.

[marurun]

I am playing Saga 2 on DS, which came out in 2009, but is a remake of the Gameboy Saga 2, released here in the US as Final Fantasy Legend 2. While the graphics have been upgraded to 3D, and a few new elements added, like the ability to find muses who then grant you points for your battle performance that can be spend on so-called Threads of Fate, the game is really very much like the original. All the monster evolution tables are the same (I'm using the old tables and they work perfectly), the enemy stats are the same, the effects of weapons and spells, character advancement, it seems to all be replicated perfectly. Saga 2 DS was never released in the US, so I'm playing a translation on a flash cart. The translation has a couple weird bugs here and there with lines overflowing the text boxes, but those are rare, thankfully. Otherwise the translation seems pretty good.

I started playing this game earlier than this month, like back in November or December, but I recently got a Switch with Zelda and so I put it down and hadn't played it for a while, but this month's TR theme inspired me to pick up the game again. I'm currently headed into world 6, so I'm right around the half-way point, I think.

[Exhuminator]

I have to sit through a class to learn new stuff right? But it's the same 10 second cut scene of a class room. Why? I have to go to one room to initiate a mission, but then run back to the class to START that mission. There's two loading screens between these two rooms. So basically 4 loading screens to start EVERY mission. ugh.

Remember when you looked at my notes and saw:

There's so much bad game design insofar as player inconveniences that it boggles the mind. This game does not respect its players' free time and attempts to stretch about 10 hours worth of game content to 40+ hours by artificial contrivances.

Stuff like you said quoted above is a perfect example. Hopefully you'll enjoy Type-0 enough to finish it and review it for us. But you'll need more masochism patience than I had.

I am playing Saga 2 on DS

Cool! I was considering playing some of the Saga stuff for this TR, but I'm conflicted about it. Now I'm not saying you guys are wrong, so don't gang beat me here, but hear me out on this. The only reason any of us westerners assign any sort of "Final Fantasy" element to the Saga games, is because Square brazenly rebranded Saga with the FF moniker in the west. Yes, I know most of you know that. But still, in its native land, as I understand it, the Saga stuff is its own thing. It doesn't have any tie-ins with FF, it's not a spin-off of FF at all. Unless I totally am misunderstanding the situation, the Saga games aren't technically FF spin-offs. They only seem that way in the west due to corporate shenanigans. As such, I decided it'd be disingenuous to play any of them for this TR. Now that's just my personal opinion! Again, I'm NOT insinuating anybody else is "wrong" for playing Saga games in this TR.

-

As for me, I'm about halfway through chapter 3 in Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings (4 hours in). I'm still very much enjoying this game. It keeps evolving in complexity and depth, with a continual drip of surprises. I'm cautiously optimistic at this point.

[noiseredux]

Remember when you looked at my notes and saw:

There's so much bad game design insofar as player inconveniences that it boggles the mind. This game does not respect its players' free time and attempts to stretch about 10 hours worth of game content to 40+ hours by artificial contrivances.

Stuff like you said quoted above is a perfect example. Hopefully you'll enjoy Type-0 enough to finish it and review it for us. But you'll need more masochism patience than I had.

yup, you're exactly right. The fact that I have to go from point A to point B then back to point A to start EVERY mission is just insulting game design. Especially when loading screens (brief as they may be) are between the points.

That said, I feel strongly that I'll be able to push through this one. I'm enjoying the gameplay enough to put up with the rest. And 5 hours went by fairly quickly. Assuming that it can be tackled in ~25 hrs, then I'm at a pretty solid pace right now.

[Sarge]

Well, I'll stretch and say that a lot of what we see in SaGa was seen in Final Fantasy II. That game also convinced Square that perhaps they shouldn't let Kawazu on the Final Fantasy team again.

[marurun]

Saga may canonically be a separate series, but it does have a lot of connective tissue to Final Fantasy, including some Uematsu-composed tunes. Retronauts had an episode not too long ago on the first Legend and how it came about. It's definitely in the Final Fantasy sphere of influence and wrapped up rather tightly with many of the same staffers.

[Exhuminator]

wrapped up rather tightly with many of the same staffers.

Sounds to me like SaGa's a "personnel spin-off" moreso than a "Final Fantasy spin-off". But hey, it's cool man. I'm definitely not trying to say "SaGa shouldn't count for this TR" but rather "this is why SaGa doesn't work for me personally for this TR". I'm looking forward to your review of the DS SaGa 2. I've been eyeing SaGa 2 and 3 on DS for a while now.

[BoneSnapDeez]

dis track doe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pVl82ohxkE

[TheSSNintendo]

I've beaten all the ones I own, playa. I've always enjoyed the FF spin-offs. In recent years they've managed to outshine the mainline games by a wide margin.

I put an hour into Mystic Quest tonight. Got dat first crystal. I feel compelled to fight every battle -- anyone else do this?

Dem respawning cure potions doe.

Yep. I wrecked every enemy that was moving in the Bone Dungeon. And this time I loaded up on Healing Potions, since some enemies hit with Confusion or Poison attacks in there.

[noiseredux]

alright so I'm a bit over six hours into Type-0 now, and I'm currently on mission #5 (of I believe 12). I'm actively enjoying the game now. I still feel like the story is a convoluted mess. But frankly, the game itself is pretty much a mess. It's as if the developers took every idea they had and figured they'd just see what sinks and what floats. And yet the stuff that floats is awesome. I've grown to really enjoy the battle system now. And having a cast of FOURTEEN playable characters keeps things fun and varied.