To Make a Fan: Let's Play Final Fantasy

[ryzouken]

"Things went downhill after 3"
"Japanese 3 or American 3?"
"There's a difference?"
"Yes. -extrapolates-"
"Oh, well then (country) 3"

Abbot and Costello interrupted

[Fan]

Someone made a thread about me?

I'm flattered. As my original name was FF Fanboy I think I'll be happy to watch this roll by, and (hopefully) count you among my ranks soon.

[huttj509]

"Things went downhill after 3"
"Japanese 3 or American 3?"
"There's a difference?"
"Yes. -extrapolates-"
"Oh, well then (country) 3"

Abbot and Costello interrupted

I tried that...it steamrolled. Admittedly, after a few sentences we were playing it up because of a bystander who was annoyed how confusing it was...

"See, 1 is 1, but 2 is 4 and 3 is 6, so when he says he played 3, he means 6, but when I was talking about 3 before I meant 3."

[Tylorious]

I am extremely excited about this! Please don't do the MMO's though.

[RagingKrikkit]

Ah I'm using 1920x1080, that might have something to do with it. But yeah, for me your screenshots are slightly bigger than a pair of postage stamps.

Let's see if we can't make things easier for you. I've manually increased image size from the GBA's natural 240x160 to 480x320. So now you should have eight stamps instead of two.

Request: This is going to be long. The updates are going to be spread out throughout the thread. Could you please link the posts containing the episodes of the Let's Play itself in the OP?

Okay, I'll get to that before too long.

In the olden days, it used to be you had to talk to Princess Sara to obtain your fat lute. IIRC, this made it a missable key item. Missable. Key Item. Yeah, I'm sure that never came back to bite anyone in the arse.

Oh, don't worry. It still is.

I think you should totally put the Bestiary information up when available, provided it isn't too onerous a chore. While I've played through 1 a time or two on a system or three, I didn't pay much attention to the Bestiary so it'd be nice to read up on it whilst I follow along with this epical lets play.

Okay, I'll start doing that.

15-ish games spanning over 25 years of 40+ hour JRPGs. You have your work cut out for you. If you manage to complete this massive undertaking, I recommend you put it on your resume as a sample of your dedication to a task. Cause if you manage an average of 40 hours on these games, you'll still have put in at least 600 hours, not counting time spent typing up posts and screencapping.

That's one to tell dad and his video-games-will-ruin-your-life rhetoric.

Someone made a thread about me?

Man, that was amusing to see you in the "Latest post by" column.

I am extremely excited about this! Please don't do the MMO's though.

Okay, that's one vote against. Then again, I probably won't start counting until we wrap up X-2.

Chapter 3: The Pirates of Pravoka

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(Overworld Theme: NES GBA)

When last we left, giant letters flew across the screen. Now that we are through our first cutscene, we should get moving.



Per audience request, I have changed the team order slightly.



This… is not a good situation.



Either that or I managed to get intimidated by the character design.

LEVEL UP!

Roy: HP +5, +Agl, +Int

Haley: HP +3, +Agl

Elan: HP +2, MP +16, +Int

Durkon: HP +3, MP +5, +Str, +Sta

Hell.

Hey, a cave. Wonder what’s inside.

(Mayota’s Cave: NES GBA)

Well, at least it doesn’t sound errie.



Hey, a broom!





Eek, moving broom!

Alternatively: Cool, moving broom!



Uh… and it talks in riddles, too.



Tceles Nottub. That needs to get used in a fantasy language.





Walking through the door triggers a scripted event consisting of a dialogue before we walk further into the room, revealing the lady in red.



*thump* Ouch! I can’t see a blasted thing without my crystal eye! Who could have stolen it from me?

Oh, she can’t see?



In that case: LOOT!



Well then, let’s get back on the road.

But first…



Tceles Nottub B, when written backwards, reads B buttoN scelecT. Going to the world map and pressing B and Select brings us to the world map map, which helps when you have a game world design as nonsensical as this.



Using said map as a guide, I eventually make my way east to the town of Pravoka Pravoka (Apparently this was a good enough name to not need a change.)



(Town: NES GBA)

I can’t put my finger on this song. There’s an amount of calm to this song, but also an element of sorrow. Maybe it’s a song about times and friends long past.



It’s certainly not the song I would have picked for a town overrun by pirates, but perhaps the townspeople feel more like this than a high-octane panic song.



At least the shops are still open. Roy and Elan get broadswords, Haley gets a scimitar, Roy gets a shield, everyone gets leather gloves, and Elan and Durkon get a new spell each. That done, it’s time to pay the pirate captain a visit.



Oh, man. That line. The NES had nothing on this line, instead using the censor-happy Nintendo of America-approved “lot of nerve” cop-out.

Keelhaul ‘em, boys!

On the other hand, he’s trying to kill us.





Nine pirates. Time to bust out the magic!



That’s some pretty solid damage they’re doing.



That’s why I brought this.



Sleep, as its name implies, puts the entire enemy team to sleep.



Well, the entire team that doesn’t make a saving throw.



Protect, meanwhile, raises the defense of the target.



You can guess what higher defense means.



Blizzard is ice damage, pure and simple.





Though perhaps not as much as I’d like.



Still enough to OHKO an unconscious pirate, though.



Anybody else feel guilty about murdering these guys in their sleep?



Oh well, it gets the job done.



And that’s that.



The captain stares at the hamburger that was his sleeping crew a minute ago…



And gives us his ship in the hopes that we don’t do the same to him. Apology accepted.



And with that, I’m going to call it a day, seeing as we fought a boss fight and all, and I’ll see you all next time, when we go sailing!

[Triaxx]

If anyone hasn't played the NES version of FF1, you have NO IDEA how much easier the MP makes it. Also, the enemies are a bit easier. 1 is the only game in the series that I own that I've never beaten. I've come so close but I always end up TPK'd in the final dungeon.

Can't wait to see how close you get.

[Hunter Noventa]

The new screenshot size is perfect, thanks!

[Nerd-o-rama]

If you want to have a smile when you get to later games, make sure to remember some of those suggested names you cycled through.

Also Daryl can totally be a girl's name. Daryl Hannah anyone?

Anyway, you missed all the optional loot in the Chaos Shrine. It's not that important anyway.

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Besides, you'll be back.

[Triaxx]

Now that he has the boat, it's not that hard to get back anyway.

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And it's best to wait until he has the key.

[RagingKrikkit]

Anyway, you missed all the optional loot in the Chaos Shrine. It's not that important anyway.

Actually, I got it off-camera, duing the "grinding" session. Don't you see Elan's stylin' cap?

Chapter 4: I'm on a-*shot*

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Welcome back! When last we left we had just beaten a pirate crew into the dirt, and in a plea for his life…



He gave us a ship!



Time to raid the seven seas in arr very own pirate ship!



Off we go!



Wait, are we… Dang it, we’re landlocked!

Ah, well, let’s do some exploring anyway.



What the hell are those?!



They’re hitting hard, and they’re absorbing plenty of damage. I’d heard about a difficulty spike around here, but that’s just nuts.



Of course, all that means is we’ll be ducking back to inns more often than before.



*Ka-ching!*

LEVEL UP!

Roy: +5 HP, +Agl, +Sta

Haley: +3 HP

Elan: +24 HP, +15 MP, +Agl

Durkon: +3 HP, +5 MP

Yay, Elan finally got some HP!



Buccaneers…



Lovecraftian horrors…



Good thing we have this.





Invis causes the individual it was cast on to flicker rapidly, inducing seizures and raising evasion.



Ooh, shiny!



Ehh, let’s pass on that.



Wait, that works!



One buccaneer. One stinking buccaneer dropped 120 gil. Wow. Difficulty spike or no, this is a place worth grinding.



Haley! Noooooooooooo!



Haley… Taken from us in your prime…



How can we go on without you?



Forgive me, father, for I have let my friend die…



Wait, what?



YES YES YES!













WHOO!!!!! We got Haley back!



Let’s not make that mistake again.



Anyway, with that moment of chaos over, we continue on and strike land near our next city…



The Elven Forest Retreat of Elfland Elfheim. (Because saying “Elf Home” in German Nordic you idiot is a little better than something as effortless as Elfland.)



AGAIN?!

[Illven]

But it didn't take a story book to resurrect a character?

Cheap OOTS knock off. 0/10 Would not read again.

[Triaxx]

Oh, the horrible, horrible memories of the sea. Those eyes killed me by paralysis SO MANY TIMES! The only thing that killed me more were the Gas Dragons in the final dungeon.

[Magentawolf]

Oh, the horrible, horrible memories of the sea. Those eyes killed me by paralysis SO MANY TIMES! The only thing that killed me more were the Gas Dragons in the final dungeon.

Nothing is more humiliating then getting stunlocked by Geists in the original game. They have a high chance of paralysis, but only do minimal damage... so with poor luck you'll get ping'd to death over five minutes of failure.

[Gnoman]

This information is readily available in the bestiary, but I'm spoilering it anyway, just in case you want to avoid hints,

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Pretty much all enemies you fight are weak to Thunder. If you use that spell ("bolt" in this version, I think), they become quite easy.

[Thrudd]

This brings back some memories.
You're lucky, the NES version had no Phoenix Down. If someone died you were slogging it all the way back to the nearest town, and they probably end up a few levels behind. And Magic Points? This GBA port is making people soft. lol

[zenoisy]

my best friend is SO hooked on final fantasy i just never got into, but then again i never tried

[RagingKrikkit]

Rumors of this thread's demise have been greatly exaggerated.

This brings back some memories.
You're lucky, the NES version had no Phoenix Down. If someone died you were slogging it all the way back to the nearest town, and they probably end up a few levels behind. And Magic Points? This GBA port is making people soft. lol

Actually, I'm making a point of using as few of them as I can, if only because hauling someone back to town is cheaper.

Chapter 5: Dungeon Prep

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Welcome back! When last we left, our heroes had just entered the town of Elfheim, and were approached by a young (relatively speaking) elf, begging us to rescue their prince.



But first, let’s grind.









Well, dammit.



Rise, brother Thundershield!









Anyway, grinding gets us a level each…



…and another thousand gil…



…which we then blow on armor, Roy getting a new helmet and shield, Haley getting a cap, and Durkon getting a cap and a copper armlet, which for some reason takes up the body slot. Oh, well, at least his DEF is up to 6 now.



The weapons, however, are nothing special.



Also interesting to note is that…



…Elfheim is home to both the level 3 and 4 magic shops. While most of this is out of our budget for the moment, let’s get what we can for now.





Make that “let’s grind some more and then get spells.”



Anyway, now that that’s all done, let’s see what’s up with this prince.



(Castle: NES GBA)





I love how we just march into town and everybody and their dog begs us to help them.









Great, it’s an exploration quest.

[Missing Image]

Okay, to be fair, I’m okay with the occasional objective where one doesn’t know exactly where to go, but I generally prefer a more defined search area than “the game world”.

[Missing Image]

Anyway, new enemy and new spell.







Fira spends a good 2-3 seconds launching fireballs all over the screen before doing fire damage to all enemies.



We start moving northwest of Elfheim, because I really don’t have any idea where else to go.



Hey, I found something!



(Ruined Castle: NES GBA)

The GBA starts off very errie, but then the song turns into a remix of the normal castle theme. It creates an air of feeling like you’re being watched, but then you can’t help but remember that this was once a proud and elegant structure, hosting balls and feasts through the long years, and caution gives way to… pity.



We encounter no enemies, and a little exploring brings us to this. He doesn’t look very threatening, but dang this looks like a boss room.



Therefore…



Phew.





Oh, okay. Now, where’s that cave he was talking about?



A few minutes later we find a cave in a marsh. Looks like the place.



Yep, this is it.

[erikun]

Oh good lord.

Buy tents. A number of tents. Also, make sure you conserve Elan's magic and/or get used to running from enemies. The slime-monsters in this place are just a bit resistant to weapons.

It's probably one of the few places where I actually needed to use tents.

[Wookieetank]

Oh good lord.

Buy tents. A number of tents. Also, make sure you conserve Elan's magic and/or get used to running from enemies. The slime-monsters in this place are just a bit resistant to weapons.

It's probably one of the few places where I actually needed to use tents.

+1 to this. Marsh cave is probably the only dungeon that always takes me more than one go when I play through FF I (excluding the earth dungeon, but thats a whole nother ball of yarn). Marsh Cave is the first real dungeon though, and it shows.

[GloatingSwine]

Marsh Cave is way less troublesome in the modern version than it was in the earlier versions, since you can cast more than, like, three spells ever...

That made crowd control "fun".

[Thrudd]

I'm pretty sure the Elf village has some awesome weapons and armor, a significant boost from what was available in the last town...was there not two weapon shops? I can't remember. But they definately sold a silver sword in the NES version, which cost a ton of money, like 1000 g, or 4000 or something ridiculous like that. Which led to much grinding in the nearby field that was always full of Ogres and Creeps (gigas worms now, apparently?), or sailing around looking for Kyzoku (buccaneers) because they drop tons of cash.

[tyckspoon]

I'm pretty sure the Elf village has some awesome weapons and armor, a significant boost from what was available in the last town...was there not two weapon shops? I can't remember. But they definately sold a silver sword in the NES version, which cost a ton of money, like 1000 g, or 4000 or something ridiculous like that. Which led to much grinding in the nearby field that was always full of Ogres and Creeps (gigas worms now, apparently?), or sailing around looking for Kyzoku (buccaneers) because they drop tons of cash.

'course by the time you could afford to pick it up you were overleveled to the point where you could smash through most stuff in the area easily regardless, and you got better weapons out of the treasure you can loot once you've finished the Elf Prince quest sequence.. I've never bothered putting in enough time to buy it. (The other new sword they sell is/was a decent upgrade, IIRC, tho.)

[Triaxx]

Ugh. That cave. There's just nothing good to say.

I usually had enough gold to buy the sword for my fighter, because I tended to abuse the peninsula of power.

[RagingKrikkit]

I was ready to post this a week ago, but then I got dragged off to Colorado for said week.

Chapter 6: Dungeon Crawlin' Foolery

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(Dungeon: NES GBA)

Welcome back! When last we left, I had just entered the Marsh Cave, and you the viewers collectively had a seizure induced by horrific nostalgia. So what did I do about this?



I ground us out another few levels…





…and got Durkon a pair of offensive spells. Also, I took another look around Elfheim, and no, there is not another weapon shop lying around, although the elf talking about silver mythril is still hanging around.



Anyway, let’s roll!



We start with a fork in the road, and I pick down.



And another. Down again it is.



…

Aaand another…



And we finally get out first random encounter in the dungeon. It also gives me a chance to show you something I’ve been meaning to for a while: Preemptive strikes. When we enter a battle, there is a chance that we will get the drop on the enemy, and get one free round without the enemy being able to attack. Of course, the same can happen to us as well, known as an ambush.



Anyway, these guys are Shadows, and I get the feeling this will hurt them.



That is, assuming that ridiculous amounts of one-shotting don’t take them out first.



O_O

...

…

Sneak attack?



Anyway, let’s try this out.







So, that’s what Dia looks like.



And it even one-shots!



Yay!

Level Up!
Durkon: +4HP, +16 MP, +Int, +Sta

You’ve probably noticed that I haven’t done as many of these lately. That’s because Haley and Durkon are now getting levels at different times than Roy and Elan, due to having died. Maybe at some point I’ll kill them off so I can grind the other two back up to match.



And with that out of the way, we finally reach the bottom of this floor.



Hey, it’s the way down!



Heck with that, we’re checking out the rest of this floor first!



Nothing here…



I was too slow to catch the “Ambushed!” text at the top of the page, but apparently the new palette swaps also come with the ability to paralyze.



The plan: Haley and Elan each take a crawler, while Durkon casts Dia on the skeletons.



I… what?



Aaaand fail.



Haley, however, is much squishier than Roy.



Oh, for…



C’mon, Dia…



Yes! Now just for the real threat!



I gots a hunch…









Thundara looks absolutely amazing, but unfortunately, these guys don’t appear to be weak to it.



At least they were hurt enough for it to finish them.



99? I go through that and you give me a lousy 99XP?!



I guess that’s okay, though.



The other good news is that paralysis goes away at the end of a battle, so Roy and Haley are good to go again.



That’s… a lot of magic defense.



Looks like we’re punching them in the face for now.



And the top has stairs, too. These look more official, so I’m going to assume that this is the actual way down, and try that other hole first.



Aaand it’s a dead end.



I run around a bit to trigger an encounter, and meet these guys.



I’m guessing physical attacks won’t do much, but they’re vulnerable to some form of magic.



Elan burns one to death, and Haley kills another with a critical hit. On the whole though, these guys look to have about 20HP and a ton of defense with not quite so much magic defense.



And they can’t even scratch Durkon. These guys are now just a speed bump.





Of all the stupid gimmicks…



Another sprint around the map brings us to the second floor of the dungeon, via the stairs at the top end of B1.



Ka-ching!



Too bad everyone who can use it already has one. Oh, well, it’s still redeemable for cash.



Much better.



I’ve run into ghouls a few times, but I’ve never actually shown them to you.



And this is why everybody hates them.



But it doesn’t really matter anymore.



These are new.



And also easy enough to beat to death.



More new stuff.



Haley is showing off exactly what I was expecting these guys to have: poison.



These guys can actually do damage, so Elan is going to make them stop.



And unlike paralysis, poison does not go away. I have antidotes, but I suddenly find myself wishing I had taken Poisana.



This is the Bloodbones. Unlike the skeleton, this guy can actually take a hit.



Really? That’s the second one in a row to hit Durkon.



Burn!



Okay, I have been running around here in circles for fifteen minutes. Where the hell is the way down?!

…

…

Wait…



OH YOU HAVE GOT TO BE-

TO BE CONTINUED…

[Triaxx]

The only appropriate image: Ha-Ha

Seriously though, those nightmares aren't just because of the long time ago. That place really is that bad.

[RagingKrikkit]

Yay, image fail! Fixed that, so now you can go back and see exactly how bad I screwed up!

[danzibr]

But I don't want to play Final Fantasy if you stop updating


And you should have started with a Fighter, Thief, Black mage, and Red mage.

Why's that?

I think it's a good party. For the version on my phone I like Fighter, Thief, Black Belt, White Mage.

For the NES version, probably Fighter, Fighter, Red Mage, Red Mage. Man that's some broken stuff there.

[GloatingSwine]

Why's that?

Silly old 8-bit theatre has that party.


Fighter/Thief/WM/RM is a pretty good setup though, you get two people who can cast FAST/Haste and benefit decently from it for slapping bosses, and red mages can cast ICE3/Blizzaga which is the most cost effective crowd control spell.

Black Mages/Wizards, especially in the NES version, are a bit gimpy because their guaranteed stat, INT, does nothing (literally, it's never used in any calculation ever in the NES version) and the high level black magic isn't that much of an upgrade over the tier 3 elemental spells which the Red Wizard can access anyway, and having an extra sword swinger is more useful in more fights because of the low MP you get.

[Eldariel]

I had a terrible fondness for Black Mage, Black Mage, Black Mage, Black Mage. Early game was harsh but by the time you got Elemental 2s, you just were a walking death squad with enemy rarely getting a turn.

[Shpadoinkle]

Durkon getting a ... copper armlet, which for some reason takes up the body slot.

Final Fantasy on the NES was one of the games we had when I was a kid. I was always puzzled by the armlets = body armor thing, and I was well aware that the game had been heavily influenced by D&D, but I never made this connection until sometime last year when I was replaying the game: Armlets/bracelets in FF1 (and some later games) are Bracers of Armor, just renamed.