Let’s Play Final Fantasy X: Intro

Final Fantasy X HD Splash ScreenWoo hoo! My goal of playing all the Final Fantasy games before FFX HD was released has failed spectacularly! I had the game on preorder and started a half-arsed Let’s Play FFX  on Tumblr, but what I really want to do is post a tidied-up “director’s cut” here. Because, while it’s not my first Final Fantasy, FFX remains my favorite.

Yep, I’m the lunatic who transcribed the entire game script because there’s so much that Yuna’s party never sees.

Do you love Blitzball Kid? Do you want to know why that paparazzi in the blue sweater kept photographing Yuna? Are you curious what Kinoc and Seymour were really up to behind the scenes? Curious what the inscriptions on temple walls and Al Bhed shop signs mean? You’ve come to the right place. Please allow me to channel my inner Maechen for you.

Alas, one thing I can’t do is screengrab my PS3, so I’m gonna have to emulate FFX original for my own screencaps. For full HD beauty shots, check out Dansg08’s superb commentary/video PS3 walkthrough or DavetheUsher’s PS4 Playthrough. You’ve probably played the HD version anyway, so there’s no need for me to remind you how pretty it is.

Besides, while the remaster has given the backdrops of Spira a glorious makeover, some of the characters have suffered from their plastic surgery (poor Wakka). FFX just isn’t the same without duckface Tidus, is it?

Tidus looking like a doge

Thought not.

P.S. If you spoil the audio epilogue, I will borrow Paine’s sword and disembowel you. I’ve had most of it spoiled, and from what I’ve heard I’m not going to like it, but allow me to entertain the delusion that I still have something new to look forward to, OK?

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Square Enix Presents at E3: Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster Interview

WE INTERRUPT OUR REGULAR “LET’S PLAY FINAL FANTASY” for a special feature!

Square-Enix had a livestream interview at E3 today with producers Kitase and Toriyama.

Because Final Fantasy X/X-2 (yes both) are my favorite in the series, I’ve typed out a complete transcription below. FAN TRANSCRIPTION, totally unofficial, so there may be mistakes. Apologies for the commentary that I couldn’t resist adding.

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Final Fantasy II Playthrough: Introduction

Firion ffii trading arts Dissidia figure

Firion from Final Fantasy II as portrayed in Dissidia.

So, February is Final Fantasy II month for our year-long 2013 Final Fantasy Playthrough Marathon!

I am utterly ignorant of this game except that it stars Firion, the dude (?) with a dead bird turban on his head. I’ve been taken aback by the candy red sword he brandishes on the Amano cover art. I noticed he also rocks a Swiss Armor Weaponry outfit on his Dissidia Trading Arts Figure figure. (At left, bad official photo. See this better fan photo gallery for close-ups.)

This is the only time I’ve ever seen a fantasy game character portrayed with all his weapons not hidden in an invisible Bag of Holding. It reminds me of a family trip when I was aged four, told I could only bring whatever toys I could carry, and turned myself into a Shambling Mound of Stuffed Animals by roping them all together into a tyke-sized tent that I wore like an aegis. So I’m wondering how Amano Dude fights with all his weapons strapped on. Wouldn’t he trip over the trident?

Which brings me to the one other thing I’ve learned about this game from the comments on Lassarina’s pre-game post: that the leveling is insane, and that you have to become proficient in individual weapons by hitting yourself with them. Or something. (Or, rather, that your proficiency with anything from weapons to spells to stats increases the more you use each thing.)

Once again, I’ll be playing the iOS version of this game, which is a port of the remastered FFII seen in “Final Fantasy Origins” (PSX), “Final Fantasy Dawn of Souls” (GBA) and Final Fantasy II (PSP). I have no gamer pride and feel no need to subject myself to the original, harder version of this game.

I have no particular expectations other than the fact that it’s early Final Fantasy, so I’m looking forward to nostalgia (and the first bona-fide chocobo and Cid). I confess that I’m dreading the infamous game mechanics in this one. Which means I’m totally going to overdo it on grinding.

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Introduction: Let’s Play Final Fantasy I

My friends sev and las at Moogle University had the insane idea to replay ALL the Final Fantasy games, or at least the first ten, in a 2013 gamer marathon. I decided to join the insanity. Here commences my own ten-month-plus journey through the land of chocobos, airships, minimaps, and crazy dudes named Cid.

First up on our plate is Final Fantasy, the oxymoronically-named game that started the neverending franchise in 1987. I was a teen back then, playing games like Zork, Temple of Aphshai and Karateka on an Apple ][.  I did not discover Final Fantasy until 15 years later, so I missed FF’s old school era entirely.

As I am over forty and have a life, I am violating the path of gamer purity by excusing myself from the original, delightful yet buggy NES version of Final Fantasy, which required massive amounts of grinding, dragging dead characters back to towns for resurrection (no Phoenix Downs for you, sucker!), and conserving the precious few spells one could cast each day.

Instead, I’ve opted for the kinder, gentler, EASY MODE iOS edition of Final Fantasy, which is a port of the remastered 20th anniversary Final Fantasy for PSP.* This will be my first time playing any version of this title. I’m looking forward to a lot of 8-bit and D&D nostalgia (I played tabletop D&D quite a bit in the 80s).

Final Fantasy I iOS

Gotta be an airship somewhere…

But enough expository banter. Let’s play Final Fantasy I!

*(See list of all the Final Fantasy versions on FF Wikia and this GameFAQ guide to differences between the versions).

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