I played a ton of FF in 2020:
- ff7 remake: 80 hours. I cried, jumped for joy, wet my pants, etc. I will suck on whatever Barret wants me to suck on.
- ff7 90 hours. Fan translation patch on original PS1 hardware in 240p using PSIO! My guilty favorite FF game. I think it has the best battle system in the series. All the wikis use upscaled assets from PC ports. This game looks amazing in 240p and must be played that way IMHO. I have played this one since 5th grade. I don’t remember how many times.
- ff6 90 hours. Fan translation patch on original hardware using custom hard-patched OEM cib copy of the sfc cart that I burned the chip and soldered myself. I always feel this one is overrated, I dislike how many horny dudes are in the cast. But there’s a lot I do like…. Celes character was also squandered, later to be made badass with Beatrix from FF9. Floating continent is my favorite part of the game. I’ve played 3/4ths into the game over 4 times but this was my first time finishing it.
- ff9 90 hours. Original hardware, PSIO, patch that makes ATB gauge as fast as FF7. Love this game, wish it had as much endgame content as ff7. Wish there was a fan translation to correct a lot of translation errors and make it more consistent. (maduin, madeen, madain, who do you choose?) This is one you gotta play slowly and savor. LOVE it. I’ve played it to the last area before, and played the first half of the game many times. First time beating it though.
- ff12 Zodiac Age (switch version) 80 hours. For the Matsuno-lovers ONLY. I have a lot to say about this game. I am very annoyed when people call it a single player mmo. I think it delivers a table-top experience more than any other mainline game. I will expand on this later. I played the first parts of the game plenty of times before but always lost steam. first time finishing.
- ffx 50 hours. International version, original hardware, OPL. 480i on my broadcast monitor. By the 30 hour mark I was ready for it to be over, but I did enjoy it to the fullest. I played the first part of the game many times and always quit because I didn’t like it very much. This time, I committed to making the most of the experience and I’m glad I did. But it’s not the one for me, lol.
- kingdom hearts 40 hours. Original US PS2 version on PS2 fat with OPL, I swapped the O and X keys with cheat codes like a boss. I like to live in an imaginary world of my own design where there was only 1 Kingdom Hearts game, it was a weird crossover title that never went anywhere and everyone forgot about, now it is an obscure cult classic. I played this game for hours and hours when it came out but didn’t ever get further than the first area of Hollow Bastion. Simple and Clean is the banger of the century. I have been to a grip of nerd-raves where this track has been bumping and the dance floor was lit.
I think the best version of FFIV is a fan translated super famicom rom played on original hardware. I like that there’s a couple little quirks that tie the mechanics to FFIII JP, which was my favorite classic FF for a very long time, might still be. An example is how in FFIV when you enter the forest, the graphics do not transition smoothly at all and for a grip of frames your guy is not covered by brush until his idle frame. Also the title screen graphics on the JP version are a lot more detailed and realistic. I love the DS version of FFIII, but with FFIV, the only way I enjoy playing the DS version is on a CRT with progressive scanned resolution , which is pretty difficult to accomplish. Easiest way is if you have a PC that can output 240p, which is rare, or a DS that can output a video signal, which is rarer. PSP version is cool, but I always find myself asking why I’m not just playing the SFC version. I think the thing is, I need to beat the SFC version at least 2 more times before I need to play something revised…
For some people (zoomers) they can just play the newest version, but for me, I wanna play the original a million times before I play an upgraded version. The only exception in the Final Fantasy series I think is that FF12 zodiac age. FF12 was ahead of its time, and is still misunderstood.
Here’s my Final Fantasy tier list, because no one asked:
SS - Tactics, Tactics Advance
S - I, III, IV, VII, IX
A - II, VI, V, X, X-2, XII
Not included: VIII, XIII, XII-2 etc. because I intend to play those and form my opinion after. There are no tiers below A because even the worst Final Fantasies are still top tier RPGs, and people tend to exaggerate how bad they are.
I used to be a mega-Final Fantasy-hipster (still am) who had beaten FF5 and FF3jp, FF1 and FF2, but still hadn’t beaten FFIV, FFVI, etc. and said they were better. FF5 is great on smart phone, it’s wild how well they remade V for ios and then totally dropped the ball for VI….
But I’m a proud VII kid. That game was the legendary untouchable one through my elementary school years, I had a friend who played his older brother’s copy and hyped me up on all the secrets, demonic facts of FFVII and Xenogears and Diablo, told me he hacks the game, etc. We drew sephiroth in the 5th grade classroom. We drew sephiroth, a lot.
I saw my cousin playing the PC version for 30 seconds before he told me to go away. Then in middle school I got a used copy from blockbuster for like $10 and the rest is history. The whole reason I’m here is Tim Rogers’ …. 50 hours? long video series about FFVII. Aerith is the love of my life and I hope she does get those bellbottoms that were rumored to be in part 2 of the remake.
If anyone is going to play the GBA version of FF4, do yourself a favor and patch the everloving crap out of it. I have my “ideal” patched rom of FFIV GBA, and I still don’t play it. But if I knew I was going to prison, and I could only smuggle 1 item, I would put my FFIV revised .gba file onto my everdrive x5 mini, put my everdrive x5 mini into my mother 3 gameboy micro, lube it up, and put my mother 3 gameboy micro with my everdrive x5 mini where the sun don’t shine.