Original Final Fantasy!

[danzibr]

Well, the original thread was about something else, but...

Let's all discuss a great classic! At least IMO. I personally would like to say a few things.

1) I rented this game from Funcoland (or however you spell it) before I owned it. Years later, a friend of mine wanted to sell his copy (in like, middle school). I think I got it for $3, maybe $5.

2) I recently started the iOS version and am going Fighter/Fighter/White Mage/Black Mage. Pretty solid. I think if I were to go pure offense I'd go Fighter/Black Belt/Thief/Red Mage. Thief and Red Mage buff Black Belt for ridonc damage later on.

Btw I answered my original questions within the spoiler.
I recently learned that there's a Final Fantasy remake for iOS! I'm very excited about this. I mean, 5 extra dungeons, c'mon.

I have two questions for you playgrounders: can you still do the peninsula trick, and would you suggest iPad or iPhone?
Peninsula trick still works, and iCloud makes it irrelevant (to my understanding).
My wife and I have an iPad right now, and the screen is pretty big. We're going to get iPhones soon, but... I'm not sure how it'd look on that small a screen.

Okay, another question: what's your favorite FF party? I've only played the NES version, but I was partial to Fighter/Thief/White Mage/Black Mage.

[Starwulf]

I recently learned that there's a Final Fantasy remake for iOS! I'm very excited about this. I mean, 5 extra dungeons, c'mon.

I have two questions for you playgrounders: can you still do the peninsula trick, and would you suggest iPad or iPhone?

My wife and I have an iPad right now, and the screen is pretty big. We're going to get iPhones soon, but... I'm not sure how it'd look on that small a screen.

Okay, another question: what's your favorite FF party? I've only played the NES version, but I was partial to Fighter/Thief/White Mage/Black Mage.

Dual Black-Belts + White Mage and Black Mage

[tyckspoon]

Single-class parties are always fun, and most of them are reasonably viable, especially in the remake (the switch to the MP system lets you use magic a lot more aggressively, which makes life sooo much easier for an all Black/White Mage party.) All Fighters/Blackbelts can burn through the main game pretty easily, although the lack of good healing can give them pretty big problems with some of the bonus dungeon bosses. All Thieves is pretty rough; without magic or good weapons and armor to back you up you pretty much have the worst of all worlds. Picks up a bit if you run for an early class change and spend most of the game as Ninjas.

[hayabusa]

FFI has been ported to handheld consoles before, but I don't have enough experience with an iPhone to properly give you an answer to that.

On a side note, how many consoles is FFI and IV going to be on? Not that I'm complaining.

[danzibr]

Single-class parties are always fun, and most of them are reasonably viable, especially in the remake (the switch to the MP system lets you use magic a lot more aggressively, which makes life sooo much easier for an all Black/White Mage party.) All Fighters/Blackbelts can burn through the main game pretty easily, although the lack of good healing can give them pretty big problems with some of the bonus dungeon bosses. All Thieves is pretty rough; without magic or good weapons and armor to back you up you pretty much have the worst of all worlds. Picks up a bit if you run for an early class change and spend most of the game as Ninjas.
Hmm, if we look at 4x...

Fighter: These dudes would totally own. Early on healing is a bit of a problem, but they have gigantic health pools. Later on they get Cure and Cura (I'm going off of iOS version), making them own harder. Plus they should be able to cast Blink (IIRC) on themselves. This would make for a very easy playthrough, I think.

Thief: Hoo boy, this'll be really hard before class change, and still hard after. At least they can cast Temper and Haste on themselves after, making them serious fighting machines. End game should be a cake walk, I suppose.

Black Belt: iOS makes this a lot easier with Phoenix Downs and Hi-Potions. At high levels they'll obliterate everything. Actually, if you just stay a little above the curve, they'll obliterate everything throughout.

And... anyone want to look at the others? There's a tremendous difference between the original and Dawn of Souls/iOS versions for the mages (as tyckspoon said).

[Winthur]

Okay, another question: what's your favorite FF party? I've only played the NES version, but I was partial to Fighter/Thief/White Mage/Black Mage.[/SPOILER]

Thief doesn't do anything. I think the only thing he's supposed to be doing is running away faster. Even when he's a Ninja he's subpar. Such a trap class.

I'm partial to Fighter/Black Belt/White Mage/Black Mage.

[DiscipleofBob]

Thief doesn't do anything. I think the only thing he's supposed to be doing is running away faster. Even when he's a Ninja he's subpar. Such a trap class.

I'm partial to Fighter/Black Belt/White Mage/Black Mage.

Not so much. As a ninja, you can equip katanas which are pretty good (that is, until you get all the final weapons which make class cease to matter. Black Wizard with Ultima Weapon casting Saber a dozen times for the win!) More importantly though, the Ninja can get the low-level Black Magic spells like Haste to buff the party faster than one Black Wizard can and give the Black Wizard the chance to cast his own spells faster.

My preferred party is still Fighter/Black Belt/White Mage/Black Mage. I used to use a Red Mage instead of a White Mage (better early-game, useless late-game), but those optional dungeons really need the extra healing.

[OracleofWuffing]

Thief doesn't do anything. I think the only thing he's supposed to be doing is running away faster. Even when he's a Ninja he's subpar. Such a trap class.
Funny part is, in the NES version, running away is bugged out something ugly, and once a character of any class hits 15 luck he's pretty well guaranteed to run if your party is positioned right.

And since that's the version I play, I stick with the team of two Fighters and two Black Belts. Maybe sub one of the fighters for a Red Mage if I'm feeling magicky, but more often than not, I'm not. Equipping katanas doesn't matter much when everyone can equip the Masamune and Xcalibur's stronger than the actual Katana. And also fists.

[Zevox]

Thief doesn't do anything. I think the only thing he's supposed to be doing is running away faster. Even when he's a Ninja he's subpar. Such a trap class.
Honestly, I found Thief to be nearly as good as Fighter when I played the PSP version. His extra hits put his damage output at about the same as Fighter's, or sometimes above, and as a ninja he got access to high-power late-game weapons that no other class could use. Plus being able to cast Haste is ungodly useful, far more so than any of the white magic that Fighters get.

Early in the game they're seriously lacking durability, and they never become as durable as Fighter, but honestly that's their only downside.

Oh, and I've only played the game once, so I don't know that I have a "favorite party," but the party I used was the 8-Bit Theater party: Fighter, Thief, Red Mage, Black Mage. Worked very well most of the game, but I found myself heavily wishing that Red Mage was a White Mage during the fight with Chaos. So many of the high-level white magic spells that Red Mage was barred from using would've made that fight easier...

Zevox

[ShneekeyTheLost]

For a magic-heavy group, I would go Fighter/Red Mage/White Mage/Black Mage.

Basically, Red Mage specialized in buffing, which left my Black Mage free to blast, or buff as well. Dropping down Saber, Haste, and Defend2 in the first round made subsequent rounds MUCH easier to handle.

It also made RW a shoe-in for who gets the Masamune at the end of the game, since the Paladin had the Excalibur and the other casters had better things to do with their actions than swing at something.

I've gone Fighter/black belt/white mage/black mage, and done quite well with it. While the black belt sucked for defense, he could definitely bring the pain. Being unable to equip a ribbon without screwing over his defense even harder made him susceptible to lots of status effects the rest of my party didn't need to worry about.

Fighter/Thief/WM/BM was my first party, being a traditional D&D player since the boxed set. It didn't do too bad, Ninja's spell list is good enough for things like Haste, and the Katana gave him good damage output.


I also did a Fighter/BB/WM/RM, and while I was hurting a bit at certain stages of the game, it didn't do too bad. Once I got the use-items, it got easier.

[Talvereaux]

My standard line-up was: Black Belt, Red Mage, White Mage, and Black Mage.

I liked a lot of things about the spell slot system in the original. It was interesting having magic--high-leveled spells in particular--be a precious resource to be rationed rather than a standard attack you get to spam with reckless abandon. Of course, I definitely wouldn't knock on the MP system succeeding it, either, considering it made future games easier and more balanced.

[tyckspoon]

I've gone Fighter/black belt/white mage/black mage, and done quite well with it. While the black belt sucked for defense, he could definitely bring the pain. Being unable to equip a ribbon without screwing over his defense even harder made him susceptible to lots of status effects the rest of my party didn't need to worry about.


Give him a Ribbon anyway; the few points of physical defense you give up are well worth the raft of status and elemental defense you get from the Ribbon, especially with a Knight heading the party to soak most of the basic attacks and the Black Belt/Master's terrible magic defenses.

[Tetsujin-28]

Funny that you make this thread, I was going to do a Let's Play of Final Fantasy 1.


Okay, another question: what's your favorite FF party? I've only played the NES version, but I was partial to Fighter/Thief/White Mage/Black Mage.

NES/PSX version, my favorite party is 3 Fighters and a Red Mage. All other versions, my favorite is Fighter, Thief, White Mage, and Black Mage. The classes in the NES/PSX versions are horribly unbalanced, making Fighters and Red Mages pretty much the only class that's good from straight to end. The later editions rebalanced the classes, and a White Mage is almost required for the Soul of Chaos dungeons.

[danzibr]

Funny that you make this thread, I was going to do a Let's Play of Final Fantasy 1.



NES/PSX version, my favorite party is 3 Fighters and a Red Mage. All other versions, my favorite is Fighter, Thief, White Mage, and Black Mage. The classes in the NES/PSX versions are horribly unbalanced, making Fighters and Red Mages pretty much the only class that's good from straight to end. The later editions rebalanced the classes, and a White Mage is almost required for the Soul of Chaos dungeons.
Interesting... you can still do that Let's Play thing.

Currently my Fighter Fighter White Mage Black Mage is about to fight Tiamat. Class change, level 44 or something (if anyone isn't aware, you can get to 99 in the new version).

I also started a Fighter Black Belt Thief Red Mage. I already offed everyone but the Red Mage with the intention of doing the class change with my first 3 at level 1. So it'll be a solo Red Mage run until class change. I've never done it before.

[GloatingSwine]

And... anyone want to look at the others? There's a tremendous difference between the original and Dawn of Souls/iOS versions for the mages (as tyckspoon said).

Solo WM used to be quite possible. Cast RUSE (Blink) repeatedly, it stacks so you will never be hit ever. Use bane sword over and over because it can affect anything.

IIRC there's an item which casts RUSE later on, so anyone can do this.

[erikun]

On a side note, how many consoles is FFI and IV going to be on? Not that I'm complaining.
Final Fantasy IV is on the SNES, PS1, GBA, DS, PSP, and Virtual Console, with the sequel being on japanese phones, WiiWare, and the PSP (bundled with the original FFIV).

Why yes, I am a Final Fantasy IV geek.


As for Final Fantasy I, I played through it a few times when I was a kid (when it first came out) but have since not bothered. It's just a lot to playthrough and didn't feel like that interesting after my Fighter/BB/WM/BM and Fighter/Fighter/WM/BM teams. (The latter is very expensive.)

I tried to play a 4x White Mage run, but the entire literal grind just because to much.

[Surfing HalfOrc]

I always played F/F/RM/BM instead of WM/BM. But that was just me.

My brother-in-law was playing FF1 on an NES, when he reached the entrance to the final boss. My daughter (then age 3) wanted attention from her Uncle Ted, and popped out the cartridge. Deleted his game, AND the save file! He had played the game nearly non-stop for a day and a half; all gone in an instant. I think he may have played FF1 on his Gameboy later on. He still gets mad thinking about it.

[captainspazam]

So, I've been playing the original FF on my phone for awhile now.
Super fun. But I messed up somehow and had to start over.

I was in the elf kingdom place and was struggling to beat basic monsters and then my friend was all like "dude...your characters are under leveled...or something...and you missed something....important...dude". And I was like FFFFF-crap. So I just started over instead of trying to figure out what plot part I missed out on.

So now my team consists of a warrior?(Named butt) a fighter(named panda) a red mage replaced my black mage (;_:) (named Peanut) and a white mage (named Muffin).

Besides better names, what sort of cool tips and secrets do you know? Or any...cheats? :smalltongue:

[danzibr]

So, I've been playing the original FF on my phone for awhile now.
Super fun. But I messed up somehow and had to start over.

I was in the elf kingdom place and was struggling to beat basic monsters and then my friend was all like "dude...your characters are under leveled...or something...and you missed something....important...dude". And I was like FFFFF-crap. So I just started over instead of trying to figure out what plot part I missed out on.

So now my team consists of a warrior?(Named butt) a fighter(named panda) a red mage replaced my black mage (;_:) (named Peanut) and a white mage (named Muffin).

Besides better names, what sort of cool tips and secrets do you know? Or any...cheats? :smalltongue:
Glad I spotted there was a response before thread necromancy.

In any case, so you have a Warrior, Monk, Red Mage and White Mage? What a great party. As for better names, silly names are great. I remember my brother and I named somebody rug once.

As for cheats... you can read about playing 15 on the ship, but the big thing is the PNEOP, peninsula northeast of Pravoka, and it works very well on the phone. Go to Pravoka, the town where you get the boat, and then south, east and north. The top 4 squares of the peninsula have really buff dudes. With your party make sure your Red Mage has Fire 2 and your White Mage has Harm 2 (or whatever it's called, the one that hurts undead). You should be able to take down up to 4 Zombie Bulls and rake in TONS of experience. And money. Make sure you don't get too high in levels though.

[captainspazam]

Glad I spotted there was a response before thread necromancy.

In any case, so you have a Warrior, Monk, Red Mage and White Mage? What a great party. As for better names, silly names are great. I remember my brother and I named somebody rug once.

As for cheats... you can read about playing 15 on the ship, but the big thing is the PNEOP, peninsula northeast of Pravoka, and it works very well on the phone. Go to Pravoka, the town where you get the boat, and then south, east and north. The top 4 squares of the peninsula have really buff dudes. With your party make sure your Red Mage has Fire 2 and your White Mage has Harm 2 (or whatever it's called, the one that hurts undead). You should be able to take down up to 4 Zombie Bulls and rake in TONS of experience. And money. Make sure you don't get too high in levels though.

Alright! I'll make sure to get started right away! Thanks for the advice :smallbiggrin:

[Wookieetank]

I started an all white mage party myself about 2 weeks ago. Its been an interesting go. I was able to speed my way to the marsh cave where I hit a brick wall in the form of the piscodemons. After finally grinding enough to get past them, hit another brick wall with the dark elf. Huzzah for more grinding. After I finally escaped from the land locked sea things took off again. Earth cave was completed in less than an hour. Bout an hour after that had gotten class changed and the air ship. Now I'm swimming my way through the water temple/mermaid land.

Edit: Playing the GBA version for those interested.

[danzibr]

Alright! I'll make sure to get started right away! Thanks for the advice :smallbiggrin:
Np, np. Hope it helps. It just makes some of the early grinding faster. Also, the fact that it was included in later versions makes me feel like it's not cheating.

I started an all white mage party myself about 2 weeks ago. Its been an interesting go. I was able to speed my way to the marsh cave where I hit a brick wall in the form of the piscodemons. After finally grinding enough to get past them, hit another brick wall with the dark elf. Huzzah for more grinding. After I finally escaped from the land locked sea things took off again. Earth cave was completed in less than an hour. Bout an hour after that had gotten class changed and the air ship. Now I'm swimming my way through the water temple/mermaid land.

Edit: Playing the GBA version for those interested.
I've always wanted to do a party like that. I'd probably go 4x Black Belt though, just for kicks. How do your battles go? Do you melee the bad dudes down?

[Wookieetank]

I've always wanted to do a party like that. I'd probably go 4x Black Belt though, just for kicks. How do your battles go? Do you melee the bad dudes down?

Once you complete castle of ordeals it involves heavy use of the gauntlet for thundara, and now that I've completed the water temple it involves use of the gauntlet and a wand that casts fira. Before that? Either lots of poking and healing (with obnoxious ammounts of blink), or running away unless it was undead. I started the volcano last night and hopefully after that I'll be high enough level to get holy, after that I don't really see anything much standing a chance. :smallbiggrin:

4x black mages sounds like it'd be fun. I was trying a 2x fighter 2x monk for a speed run. Got to the lich in under 2.5 hours, but thanks to a lack of healing, am unable to get past him. :smallsigh:

[tyckspoon]

4x black mages sounds like it'd be fun. I was trying a 2x fighter 2x monk for a speed run. Got to the lich in under 2.5 hours, but thanks to a lack of healing, am unable to get past him. :smallsigh:

Yeahh.. doing gimmick-group attempts on Lich basically requires either playing the 15 tile game forever to farm up a few key consumables, resetting the fight over and over in hopes you luck out on the AI roulette and he never actually uses any of his spells, or often both. That or powerleveling to just grind through. It's not really conducive to a 'speed' run either way.

[Triaxx]

I still haven't gotten to the end of FF1. Neither the NES version, nor DoS. NES I always reached the final dungeon, and then I'd run into a bloody poison dragon and that was the end of the party. DoS I now lack the strength to get through the bloody Ice Cavern. Hated it on the NES, but I didn't have a choice of other games so...

[danzibr]

It might be worth mentioning (minor item spoiler)you can get an item that casts Flare in the versions with extra dungeons. In fact you can get as many as you like

[Wookieetank]

It might be worth mentioning (minor item spoiler)you can get an item that casts Flare in the versions with extra dungeons. In fact you can get as many as you like

Once I get out of volcano land (had to quit on last floor yesterday due to falling asleep on my DS...) I'll be able to have a full party casting Holy, but Flare as a back up sounds like a lot of fun. Do you know which bonus dungeon I can find it in?

[tyckspoon]

Once I get out of volcano land (had to quit on last floor yesterday due to falling asleep on my DS...) I'll be able to have a full party casting Holy, but Flare as a back up sounds like a lot of fun. Do you know which bonus dungeon I can find it in?

The Water one, I believe. You probably won't actually need it; Flare doesn't make you that much more powerful when you have 4x Invisra/Protera/Nul(element) for protection and Holy spam for offense. Handy for conserving MP through random encounters, tho.

[Forbiddenwar]

Dual Black-Belts + White Mage and Black Mage

Full of win.

[OracleofWuffing]

So, apparently, Final Fantasy I and II (separately) are available for my cell phone. This surprises me, because my cell phone is one of these (http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-phones/SCH-U360MAAVZW) and not an iPhone or other touchscreen based phone. With a 128 x 160 screen resolution, it just sounds silly. So, does anyone have any guesses about what version of Final Fantasy I this would be?

[danzibr]

Once I get out of volcano land (had to quit on last floor yesterday due to falling asleep on my DS...) I'll be able to have a full party casting Holy, but Flare as a back up sounds like a lot of fun. Do you know which bonus dungeon I can find it in?

The Water one, I believe. You probably won't actually need it; Flare doesn't make you that much more powerful when you have 4x Invisra/Protera/Nul(element) for protection and Holy spam for offense. Handy for conserving MP through random encounters, tho.
Yeah, the water one. It's good for wiping out mobs. 4 white mages with flare wreck anything.

So, apparently, Final Fantasy I and II (separately) are available for my cell phone. This surprises me, because my cell phone is one of these (http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-phones/SCH-U360MAAVZW) and not an iPhone or other touchscreen based phone. With a 128 x 160 screen resolution, it just sounds silly. So, does anyone have any guesses about what version of Final Fantasy I this would be?
Wow... I have no idea. Does it have any, well, subname? Like the one for iOS is Dawn of Souls.

[OracleofWuffing]

Here's the listing as it appears to me:
Final Fantasy
$5.99
Enter the realm of Final Fantasy as the landmark franchise comes to mobile. Select your party from six character classes, each with unique abilities. Gain experience, learn spells, and purchase weapons on an epic quest to save the world! Without a price plan that includes an unlimited data feature, you will incur either (depending on your plan) airtime charges at applicable overage rates if you exceed your minutes bundle or megabyte ("MB") charges of 1.99/MB for downloading the application. S [Size: 1MB]

[Wookieetank]

The Water one, I believe. You probably won't actually need it; Flare doesn't make you that much more powerful when you have 4x Invisra/Protera/Nul(element) for protection and Holy spam for offense. Handy for conserving MP through random encounters, tho.

It may not add to my party's power, but when Holy cost 50MP/cast, will definitely help out. Although I did manage to complete Whisperwind Cove without them. That place is absurd though, only doing 270 damge per holy to the bosses takes FOREVER. Compare that to most of the random encouncters only needing to be poked with a stick and it gives a greatly unbalanced feel.:smallconfused:

Anyways after that silly place, I'm thinking I'll just make a go at the end game. Then on to Final Fantasy the 2nd!