Blind Play My Way: Final Fantasy 4, Part 59 - One Last Moment Together
2Hey, Cecil Harvey. Join our side! (And let me stop this moment in time!)
You'll be ours forever...
Thissss moment will lasssst forever...!
One last moment together. (For eternity!)
[The following is half the rant I wanted to put on Part 60's description. However, YouTube yelled at me for going over the character limit. If you have any interest or whatever in my ridiculous ramblings, read this after watching Part 60. Otherwise, don't bother reading either description, I'm sure you'll live without my meaningless ravings.]
Rant the second is here. While I was still tired, grumpy, and a bit jaded against some of Square's decisions, I still stand by the idea that making consumable items (as well as Dispel) Reflectable is ludicrous, insane, and idiotic. No wonder that didn't happen again in other later Final Fantasies I've played, at least that I recall anyway. The very point of Dispel is to break down such defenses, and the very point of items that have spell effects is to not have to worry about things like positive status effects or enemy magic defenses. (Not referring to elemental alignments, mind, but rather their core stats.)
So many things unpolished in FF4's original battle system...but I can at least say I still love the plot and the characters. Cecil, Rosa, Yang...and most especially Rydia and Kain.
I think I know now what it is, having given it some thought in the days since this was recorded. Playing games blind for my YouTube channel, I don't mind too much (and in many cases, it's fun!)...but when it's something like this, for me personally, it doesn't work out as well as some others could. How to explain...
- I feel like there are certain expectations placed upon me, a certain kind of pressure, doing these blind playthroughs, especially with a co-commentator there live to watch me succeed, fail, or praise/bash the game whether or not expected. I mostly just want to be here for the plot. That much, there is not really a wrong way for me to react and deal with it, since I generally don't get petty with these things. (And seriously, FF13 is just garbage. But again, just an opinion.) But because it's a full playthrough, or at least as full as I can reasonably be expected to pull off for a blind run, it means getting used to a battle system I'm only partially accustomed to (it felt like it was in a transition phase between FF1 style, and FF6 style. This is not to disrespect FF2, 3, or 5, of course, and certainly not to hate on FF4's system). It means seeing a franchise in its growing pains, and being expected to just deal with it when there's no reason to have to deal with things that didn't work out well.
- I stand by the idea of reflect-able items being stupid. I stand by the idea of deflecting Dispel being idiotic. There's simply no reason I should have to accept it and say "that's a good battle system there, Square!". Because those are bad ideas. I'm not even fond of the idea of having to react VERY quickly to take advantage of first strikes (whereas in back attacks and surprise attacks, enemies are guaranteed a turn each, sometimes two before you get a turn in). not the idea of an ATB system with no damn gauge. How really fair is it to have little idea who is going first or next, and no ability to just have a person on standby while someone more important takes their turn? I don't want to be forced to skip someone's turn entirely, just because I want healing first. I need to know who is acting first, when they'll be available, and who is coming next. At least in FF1, you could issue everyone's orders immediately, and no concern of having to cram in commands before the enemy gets to act. Granted, you can't respond immediately to surprises, but I honestly still think it's an okay battle system. You can tell, with a little battle experience, who will act first in your party, the order characters will act in your party, and sometimes even enemies. And after just a couple of rounds against a boss, you can see exactly the order things will typically go. At least, this is how I recall it working in FF1 NES, though this admittedly was years ago. Certainly, it felt less messy to me than how FF4 can be at times. Yes, I said that. It's a personal opinion. You'll live, I promise.
[Continued in Part 60.]
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