Advice needed: I want to try JRPGs

[Newbryn]

[QUOTE=Seegtease;16481399]I'm gonna disagree with you on the PS1 version. Yes, there's a reason they changed things on the SNES version, but it's not a good one. They just wanted to make it easier for the NA audience, since Japanese think (and sometimes are right) that we aren't as good at video games.

Gonna have to agree with this because when star ocean last hope was released on 360 it was so dumb down it was like 2 steps back from star ocean 3.

[Seegtease]

I was pretty sure that Cure2 costed something like 25 MP and could barely be used, but maybe I'm not remembering correctly. (Research says yes. All I know is I got stuck on goddamn Baigan/Cagnazzo because, unless I grinded, it was literally impossible for me to kill him. No such trouble in future versions.)

If the PSX version is the original Japanese version, which I'm assuming it is, then I can safely say it was too hard for that battle system, as the SNES version is still reasonably difficult.

As far as I know, cures have always been 3/9/18/40 in all versions. And cure3 is usually the most cost effective. Baigan was hard because of wall, making your casters useless. But you could usually get one good fire3 in before he cast wall. Don't forget, in the PS version, you got items like hermes sandals to give you haste, and other useful things. The game was harder, but you had more tools, so you could overcome the challenge with strategy. That's why I preferred it.

But really, the DS version was harder than the PS version.

---------- Post added 2012-04-19 at 06:41 AM ----------

Gonna have to agree with this because when star ocean last hope was released on 360 it was so dumb down it was like 2 steps back from star ocean 3.

I never played 4. I played 2 originally, went back and played 1. I played 3 as well. 2 was certainly the peak. I'm sick of new console games being dumbed down. So many people today play video games that developers feel they have to lower the challenge to be accessable. They really should just say "console x is for people who are gamers, console y is for people who aren't, but just want to play some games".

[Shadow Master]

Suikoden I, Suikoden II, Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross and Final Fantasies up to IX but excluding VIII.

Oh, also, Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen. Those were the days...

[Aqueous]

I'm gonna disagree with you on the PS1 version. Yes, there's a reason they changed things on the SNES version, but it's not a good one. They just wanted to make it easier for the NA audience, since Japanese think (and sometimes are right) that we aren't as good at video games. Are you talking about the same game? There's no increase in spell cost, so I'm not sure what you're talking about.

Except with the difficulty we're alluding to in this discussion it has nothing to do with being good or bad at video games and purely to do with grinding - FF4 PS1 is no harder than any other version but simply requires more repetitive grinding, since the difficulty in numerous areas can only be overcome by powering characters up and not through strategy

That is my main issue with the PS1 version. The nature of combat in FF games is very restrictive in what you can or cannot do beyond your characters' capabilities. If an enemy is very hard there are a very limited number of strategems you can do to overcome it and over the course of a dungeon you literally can come into catch-22 game overs: you need MP to heal the damage but you run out of Ethers, you can't afford Ethers because you need the Gil but you can't get the Gil because the enemies kill you because you don't have the MP to heal etc.

Obviously, that can be avoided, but the sheer fact it is possible is detrimental and so it all comes down to grinding, therefore making an FF game difficult is, IMO, often a negative experience rather than a positive one like with a game such as Dark Souls or the original difficulty of The Witcher 2.

[Boxtroll55]

im new to the genre i enjoyed ff13 and 13-2 alot