Now that FF III has been released for the DS, every Final Fantasy is now out in the States. So, being the fat, reclusive nerd that I am, I've set one of my New Years resolutions as beating all of these games before New Years of next year.

The reasons why I want to torture myself like this are manyfold, but the top reason is my inexplicable waning interest in video games in general, mainly due to the internets and nodding off to large hits of heroin (actually, graduate school). Thus, although a few folks could probably make the Run within two months or so, I've put my run at a year, allowing myself an average of a month per game, which still gives me time to finish my massive amounts of research and internet trolling.

Since FF XI is an online game (and thus unbeatable, don't give me the "get to level whatever" crap) and also sucks the pole, I have decided to substitute Final Fantasy Tactics (original) in its place, since it's set in the same world as FF XII and since I loved the fucking game. Other offshoots, such as FFX2, Final Fantasy Adventures, and FFT Advanced, will be ignored, since they suck.

I plan to turn this into a journal of sorts, only applicable to Final Fantasy nerds. I'll take pictures when I can, but since the first six will be played on the DS, it may be tough to do.

The straight route will be used on all versions. Optional dungeons, Weapons and optional Arena bosses, etc., will be trashed if I have time and sufficient boredom, and only after all the original versions are beaten.

Here's the full list:

1. FF I - Dawn of Souls (DS) - I am going to borrow the Game Boy version of Dawn of Souls instead of going with the PS version or the original Nintendo version I have on ROM. I've beaten FFI on the old Nintendo, and the headaches there (Ineffective hits, shitty spell structuring, buying shit one at a time, etc.) are too much to put up with.

2. FF II - Dawn of Souls (DS)

3. FF III - DS

4. FF IV - GBA (the Playstation version takes too long to load)

5. FF V - GBA (fixes problems the Playstation port had with balance, etc., from what I heard)

6. FF VI - DS (due out April 7). I'll play the PS port if it's delayed beyond the time to start, or maybe even an SNES rom. I don't trust my old SNES pak enough to use that, since it randomly erased some saved games.

7. FF VII - PS (hope my scratched disks still work)

8. FF VIII - PS

9. FF IX - PS - This is the only FF game I seriously started and never finished, because of the problems the PS had with running the "old" graphics engine (e.g. long loading times). I'll have to build up patience for this one, because it's a pretty awesome story.

10. FF X - PS2

11. FF Tactics - PS - I decided against Advanced from the unanimous decision that the original was better. If they re-release the original Tactics on PSP in enough time, I'll probably get that instead. The Wiegraf battle still gives me nightmares, and is the hardest boss fight of any game I've ever played. P.S. fuck FF XI.

12. FF XII.

If I somehow make it through these, and don't care to do the optional battles, I'll stick in Chrono Trigger and start my way through the Dragon Warrior series one last time.

I'm going to try to do these in order, but I might change my mind later, especially considering that I got FF XII as a Christmas gift and I've been anticipating it too long to just let it sit on my stack of games and collect dust for seasons on end.

Anyhow, the nerdy marathon will begin Monday.

Yeah, you are a huge nerd.

In concession, I play through most of these games at least twice. I'm working my way through XII right now.

Rankings:

Final Fantasy VI (III in the US) - by far, far the best
Final Fantasy tactics
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy IV
Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy IX (tie)
Final Fantasy VIII

didn't play any of the others

VIII was fairly horrible. I liked IX and X but no where near as good as the earlier ones.

V is worth playing, g_v. I tried playing some of the NES era games on an emulator and it was pretty rough.

Didn't they re-release it at some point? I played through like 4 hours of the game and was not wildly impressed.

I can make copies of VII for PC if you need it.

btw, just because X-2 is girly doesn't mean it sucks.

Dresspheres?

I could argue all day about X2 and that fuckin' piece of shit Advent Children, but it's mostly old man talk (I got FF I for Christmas nearly 20 years ago) mostly dealing with the concept of Final Fantasy not returning to old characters (even Cid is different in every one) as a series staple. It kept the creativity flowing, and flowing well. When X2 came out, it just felt stale to me, and I LOVED FFX.

Advent Children was terrible. It's too bad, because the animation work was pretty awesome.

Wow, this is getting really close.

Has anyone played FFI on the GBA? I know they tweaked the classes (even more than they did in the PS version) and I'm trying to figure out a party. I guess I'll peek at GameFAQs.

i never finished 8, i got to space then moved onto something else. is it worth finishing? story was pretty bad with this witch crap, but i kinda wanna know what was all going on with switching back and forth to the past or whatever.

FF5 was really good. I definately like the job system in it more than the system in 6, even if 6 was a more expansive game. I think that 8, while a game I have spent a lot of time with, is my least favourite one that wasn't released on the NES (those ones are pretty bad, even if I thought the FF2 levelup system was pretty novel - fighting the bosses in Dawn of Souls was such harsh bullshit, though)

Good job substituting tactics for 11. 11 does suck pole for an FF game. I guess it is good experience for square in the world of non-random battles that are helping it lead more and more towards a more real time battle system.

As it stands the only FF main series game I haven't beat yet is 12, and I am slowly working on that and having a blast while I do so. I'vebeat all the other PS/PS2 games multiple times (although Tactics only once and haven't played X2). I really appreciated 9 a lot more the second time through. The boss is still complete horseshit though

I had no idea a DS version of this title was due out. Still one of my top five all-time ... I'd love to see a PS2/PS3 FF title set in the same era, with properly done Espers, airships, Moogles, magitek armour and the like.

My bad. It's GBA, not DS - and it's coming out a little earlier than I listed.

I need those suggestions on the Final Fantasy I party makeup, folks.

black mage
white mage
fighter
monk/theif

red mages are lame and useless

I'm halfway through Final Fantasy XII and I want to talk about it except I worry about spoilers in the official thread

I have the GBA version and I played through with
Warrior
Thief
Monk
Black Mage

I like my parties to be able to tear through everyone no problems. I found the GBA version to be much easier than the NES version.

I may have to get this GBA FF6 since that was my all-time favorite game

FINAL FANTASY I - Start Date, Jan. 1, noon.

Memories/Comments: I remember getting this game in the sixth grade, in Christmas of 1990. Things in Iraq were heating up for the first time, the Cowboys had gone 1-15, and my afternoons were spent watching Tiny Toons. Quotes from the Simpsons (like D'oh, Don't have a Cow, etc.) were explained by the principal as banned and on a level just below actual cursing. Ren and Stimpy would soon appear on Nick and subsequently stunt my pre-teen growth. After getting caught writing cusswords and drawing genitalia on my school's ridiculous newspaper, I was sent to the only detention I ever served in public school.

This skater with a mullet, named Scott, introduced me to Dungeons and Dragons in the fourth grade. I thought it was so cool, and never felt guilty playing it since I went to the least conservative Southern Baptist church in my town. Subsequently, I had played Ultima III and Dragon Warrior I on the Nintendo in the previous few years to no end. I received Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior II as Christmas presents from my father; it's been fifteen consecutive sweaters since.

Setup: In '90, I used a Fighter, Thief, White Wizard, and Black Wizard. The fighter's name was a nice name for ejaculation that we made up for school to not get in trouble, the Thief's name was an illegal drug name, the White Wizard was as much of "Penis" as we could get in with four letters, and the Black Wizard was named after fecal matter. Although I used a Monk instead of a Thief in subsequent re-beatings, I've now reconstructed my original party with their original names (since the thief/ninja got a little revamp). Welcome back, fellas.



Immaturity at its finest. I have not grown in two decades, apparently.

First impressions: The GBA version, which I have not yet played, seems a little easier than the NES/PS version. I dunno what to think of magic points instead of the old D&D style spellcasting system, but it seems to work for me.

I dispatched Garland, who had been terrifying the fifty residents of the Kingdom of Cornelia, pretty quickly. I don't remember it being this easy. Here's the famous bridge crossing (shitty shot, but oh well):



More updates when I start getting crystals and such.

i loved the original names, i still remember em: BORS, LEE, JED, TOTH

i beat this again a couple years ago and had a great time doing it. Got all the extra treasures too instead of racing throughh everything cuz i was afraid to die in places like the marsh cave or the volcano.

the best moment in this game by far is when you get the airship. the freedom! the quickness!

the most annoying is when you have to save up all that money to buy the silver sword in elfland. besides ogres, the trick is sailing around in the ship till you find some kyzokus. those fuckers gave up a lot of gold.

heres my question: did anybody actually figure out how to get the masemune WITHOUT the aid of Nintendo Power?

another thing i just remembered was i loved how after the black belt became a Master thanks to Bahamut, how much damage he would do with his bare hands. that was badass.