May Off-Topic Video Games Discussion (Zelda poll added to OP)

I was a huge Final Fantasy back in the old days. I still think Final Fantasy VI (it was III here in the US) is one of the best games ever made.

I hear that Final Fantasy XIV is excellent!

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In a discord I moderate, someone requested I create a channel so they could discuss XIV. I said I’d make a general FF one and they responded that that wasn’t necessary lol

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Some folks are upset, but I’m glad that Final Fantasy XVI has gone full action RPG. I dislike hybrid systems. I haven’t really enjoyed Final Fantasy combat (can’t speak for FFXIV) since FFX-2, which really had perfect ATB with pause paired with that ridiculous (ridiculously awesome) dressphere. Change character class during combat!

I miss the tactics games, too.

Anyway, I may pick up XVI if the reviews pan out.

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The one thing that I don’t like about Stardew is the save system. I would love to be able to save whenever I wanted, as opposed to the way it is now where the game auto-saves at the end of each day.

I guessing that the auto-save is in place to make you have to manage your time better, but it can be frustrating.

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Did anyone else find the plot to Final Fantasy Tactics hopelessly convoluted?

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It’s definitely all over the place.

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Final Fantasy 16: We Really Mean It This Time.

I’ve never played a Final Fantasy game. Or a Zelda game. Or any game where I have to work a controller. I’ve never owned a game console of any kind. Yet I’ve spent a ridiculous portion of my life playing games. And I was born in 1971.

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Agreed. A lot can happen in a day. Also it’s generally a good idea to respect the player’s time.

I suspect the save files don’t track character positions, and just wrap up any in-progress calculations, and save the final tile data only.

Saving stuff mid-process can lead to some wild bugs and exploits, which Minecraft knows well enough. There’s also enough content in the game that it would normally be a team effort, but it was done by one guy (who also made the whole engine from scratch, too), so I’m assuming the current save system is probably for maintaining his own sanity, and not because he thought it was a really good game design decision.

Still, tho. I agree with you.

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Yeah, FFVI was the first one I played all the way through, and realizing I could get my own Magitec armor mount was one of the things that first intrigued me about FFXIV.

Playing through XIV has been fascinating, though. As an MMO, it’s fine; it’s neither the best nor the worst I’ve tried. But as a Final Fantasy game, as a character-driven story written using the language of allusion and of trope—it’s astonishing. It shouldn’t work! They’re copying so many elements from the other games: not just monsters and magic and music, but characters, cultures, even entire city-states are reproduced in this realm. But since they keep making more of the game, they can keep developing the setting and narrative to accommodate these elements.

Speaking of additional development, the villains deserve special note. The base game (“A Realm Reborn”) introduces these mysterious shrouded and masked individuals, the Ascians, who feel like the most clichéd, predictable, one-note villains. I groaned every time one showed up. By the time I finished playing through the latest expansion last week (“Endwalker”), the Ascians hadn’t just become compelling and relatable—they had produced multiple fantastic antagonists, one of whom was such a delightful villain that I found myself amped up and smiling every time he appeared in a scene. It is blowing my mind that this is all technically within the same game.

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I was also born in 1971, and I have never played a Final Fantasy game.

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Other than IF and snack-sized games like World of Horror, my PC gaming days are far behind me. I have some rather serious ergonomic problems with heavy mouse use, and my desk isn’t really suitable for solving the problem. I blame the old tennis days for my fussy wrist and shoulder.

While I’m MMO averse, I’ve heard that FFXIV is the best single player experience in years. By lots of people who would know! Including Jason. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like fun on a PS5 to me (though tons of people think otherwise!) for chat and other hotkey gameplay. So: maybe someday. I’m just glad there’s a good FF game out there. It’s been a rough road these past several years.

I still love Dragon Quest, which reached the NES before Final Fantasy (here in America, anyway).

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SAME

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I play video games to be alone, for heaven’s sake!

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Same. Also any game that requires me to play online is always full of people who are 1,000 times better than me in skill, and it’s always a game that I can’t be bothered to practice, because I’m just playing it during a short break period.

So now I absolutely refuse to play games that don’t have an offline mode. I don’t want to be a punching bag, and I don’t want to be carried. I’m only playing the game for a maximum of 60 hours per year, anyways. I got a lot of other things that take my time.

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I have a lot of friends who play Dead by Daylight, so I am sure I will hear about The Outlast Trials. The games are very much not for everyone, but I really enjoyed Outlast 1, even if Outlast 2 proved to be more frustrating than enjoyable.

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So, about that Zelda game

My goodness

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Poll added to OP

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For non-IF gaming, I’ve pretty much settled in Team Fortress 2 as my go-to game. I’m astounded that, after 16 years, it still has a strong and vibrant player base.

I guess Wordle is a video game? I play it religiously every day.

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Simon Tatham’s Puzzles, on iPad, my most played video game these days.

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Oops, wait, it’s not true that I’ve never played a Zelda. I played the original Legend of Zelda and also Link to the Past. But emulated since I’ve never owned a console and never intend to.

Woo! Yes! Which ones are your favorites? I mostly play Loopy (Slitherlink) and Net and Galaxies these days…

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