Final Fantasy 4 DS Options

[Crushinator]

I picked this up yesterday, just some quick preliminary impresions.

• The animations and graphics are fantastic. Its a step up from what they were doing with FF3.
• The presentation on the cutscenes is top-notch. Its almost jarring (in a good way) to see these cutscenes i've seen for years with stumpy sprites now in full 3d with dramatic camera angles and voice overs.
• The opening CG is pretty amazing, its total fan-service, and just watching it got me totally psyched for the game
• Some combat abilities have been changed up, for example Cecil's "Darkness" ability now enchants his blade with dark elemental, adding additional damage but sacrificing some of his life for each hit. It stays on for a certain period of AT time, so depending on your character's speed, you can get in 2 or 3 hits while it remains active.
• You also have new powers called "augments" which you can equip onto characters. These are classic FF job skills like Auto Potion, Steal, etc. Once a character "learns" it you can customize their main combat menu with these new skills.
• Rydia has a special summon (Eidolons in this game) called "Whyt" whose abilities you can customize, similar to the Augment system. Rydia can summon him in combat, and you can also battle your customized Whyt over Wi-Fi with another player. He also has stats, and you can train him to level up his stats by playing little mini-games. I only have one minigame available now (a brain-training style Rydia-themed math game) but its apparent you can unlock more.
• The game is a SHITLOAD harder. And I mean harder than "Final Fantasy 4 Hard type" or whatever the fuck the non-gimpified japanese original was called. I know some people were giving me shit last night on Skype over dying on the Mist Dragon, but the game is seriously not joking around this time.

[Scan_Man]

Yeah. I'm going to fully crack into it tomorrow. But it makes me wonder what they will do with FF5 and hopefully FF6. Hell even Chrono Trigger, here is hoping its not just a straight port.

This post has been edited by Scan_Man: Jul 24 2008, 01:53 AM

[DarkEpyon]

All current info seems to point to CT being just that.

[Scan_Man]

Yeah booooo to that.

[Crushinator]

OK, after getting over the hurdle of the Kaipo desert/Octomamm cave I'm moving along at a faily brisk pace. It seems like you just need to grind a little bit (I got Cecil and Rydia to 13 in the desert) before tackling the cave, otherwise the normal enemies will just rape you. After the grind I've just been able to cruise through all the other zones and boss battles without much difficulty. Also, make sure you clear the maps 100% each time, you usually get a decent prize for it, like a bunch of Phoenix Downs or Potions.

The Octomammoth battle was pretty much the same as usual. However, the ant lion battle was very different, now his eyes will change color between red and white, and depending on the color he will counterattack magic or physical hits.

Also, Edward doesn't suck quite so much now. He's still frail as hell, but now his new BardSong ability is actually useful. The songs affect all the enemies or party members at once, so its actually useful having him do mass sleep/silence/confuse, or cast regen on the whole party.

Can't wait to get Yang in the party tonight, and do Mount Ordeals

[Wiryu]

just beat golbez in the underworld. fucking tough stuff man. cecil acts more as a second means of healing than anything else in my party. I need to start grinding some. they gave me back a pretty weak ass rosa. :(

[Crushinator]

Woo, that battle against Scarmiglion's undead form was freakin ROUGH. I think I got owned like 5 times before I finished it.

Also Cecil seems really weak to start out as a PLD (damage wise) this time around. In the old games even though he was low level his holy sword still did massive damage to the zombies and undead stuff, but now its weak as hell. Its all good though, loving this game so far!

[Wiryu]

i'll give you guys a little tip if you're not ahead of me at this point. firstly, definetely grind pld cecil to 20 before tackling baron castle, and when you get your airship, find a place to grind up to about 30's before you head after golbez. the game takes a huge turn in difficulty at that level.

[Vitamin D]

Woo, that battle against Scarmiglion's undead form was freakin ROUGH. I think I got owned like 5 times before I finished it.

Yeah man, he owned my face. He was all like FUCK YO BACK ROW SON! And I was all like. I beat him the first go, but Juuuust barely. Speaking of which... this song OWNS. It's by the same dude who did that dope Street Fighter song (hyadain2525). I only played through FF IV one time, so most of the stuff I don't remember. I'm virtually playing it for the first time haha.

[tanshin]

Alright, I got to pick the game up, and I started playing. In anticipation of how much harder it is supposed to be, I immediately started grinding fromt he beginning and saving gil. I got to the part where you take Rhydia to the oasis town, you find Rosa, and Rhydia officially joins the party. When she joins, she has like 50 hp, or some ridiculously low amount, right? So obviously I don't want her getting hit as much as Cecil. So I play her in the back row. Makes sense. I get into a random battle with 3 imps and a porcupine thing. Before I can do anything, every single one of them (yes, all fucking 4 of them) target Rhydia in the BACK FUCKING ROW and kill her.

Now I read about you guys saying they made the game harder, but that isn't harder, that's just retarded because it makes no sense. What is the point of putting her in the back row if she becomes the main target anyway? To take 2 less damage than she normally would? I know I'm still at the beginning of the game but I can see this becoming a bigger issue later on, too. What am I supposed to do if the monsters can just kill Rhydia before I even get to attack? -_-

Anyway, I do like the whole style and stuff though. And the most fun thing about the game so far is identifying what is different from the original version. I really, really liked this game back in the day. As a matter of fact, the first time I played Chrono Trigger, I named Crono "Cecil", haha. I remember when Crono is standing up to lavos to save his friends, and rog is like, "Desist, Cecil!".

About that wifi battle thing with the summons... can we battle over the internet, or do we have to be in person?

[Ether]

Stupid Square, I want this game but I don't have a DS. FF4 was always my favorite one too.

PS: Friend told me you can kill Scarmiglion in 1 hit by using a phoenix down on him

[Riel]

They kept the classic "You Spoony Bard" intact as well...playing this game slowly but i have to say i love the remade graphics and all,i can't wait to fight one my favorite Boss fight ever,The Magus Sisters hehe.