The first real Final Fantasy game I ever played (excluding FF Mystic Quest) was Final Fantasy XII. It started off as just a random game as part of what seemed like a grab bag of games that I got one year for Christmas. It later blossomed into one of my favorites in the entire newly discovered franchise.
The story follows Princess Ashe, dethroned by the Archadian Empire after they invaded her kingdom, as she battles the game's antagonists. It's such a tragic and powerful story that I'm always still left pondering about. It's also interesting because the main antagonist can be perceived as the protagonist for Ivalice (the game world) from a certain point of view. A certain point of view?
I have spent many hours on this game, both in the original version and the remastered version where they finally fixed Vaan's abs.
I even have some pictures as proof of my achievements. I found these 2 in a dusty folder titled "Major Accomplishments of Summer '12"!
There you can see Vaan obtaining the rare accessory that allows you to acquire rare loot from treasure chests. To be honest I might have only used it once to obtain a rare weapon or something. The Diamond Armlet only has a 10% chance of spawning in that specific chest and the chest didn't reappear so if you didn't get it the first time
(or the second, or the third...) you had to reset the game. In the Zodiac version of the game, the armlet can be obtained much easier and earlier.
This one is a bit more impressive. The Zodiac Spear is the strongest weapon in the game. So strong, in fact, that obtaining it makes the rest of the game's combat feel quite easy. The spear didn't have a drop rate like the last artifact, but instead, some constraints.
In order for the spear to be in that exact chest, one had to refrain from opening 3 other specific chests and a set of 16 chests arranged in a square on the Phon Coast. These 4 instances occur few and far between in the actual story, so it was easy to forget which chests were "forbidden". Oh and I almost forgot! You can (kind of) see a row of 4 chests in the image. That's because the final chest that contains the Zodiac Spear is part of another set of 16 chests arranged in a 4x4 square identical to the one in the Phon Coast. Only opening the right chest will grant the player the spear. The other chests are also all forbidden. What happens if you open a forbidden chest and try for the Zodiac spear, you might ask? You get nothing a but a Knot of Rust. I think I still remember which chests are forbidden: the ones in front of Old Dalan's place in Lowtown, more in the Rabanastre palace cellars, Nalbina Dungeon confiscatory, and the Phon Coast! I got it!
The spear itself is in the Necrohol of Nabudis, which was detroyed by the power of the Midlight Shard (but I like the Dawn Shard better). Nabudis is a completely optional region; you can complete the game without ever going there.
Speaking of full completion, which I have never achieved on this game, let's pretend we did and move on to...
Final Fantasy XIII
Arguably the second best in the series by my standards, mostly winning points for its story rather than its gameplay. This story revolves around a group of individuals branded as traitors as they fight fate in order to save their home, Coccoon. Coccoon is a small planetoid created centuries ago using resources from its parent planet, the "lowerworld" Pulse. Much of the game is pretty linear, at least until you get to Pulse, where you'll find many sidequests.
I must have left this game at 96% completion or something close. The grinding just became too much and I just wanted to beat the game already. I did, however, beat the game's 2 superbosses. One is the adamantortoise, an enormous 5-story tall tortoise that can one-hit you with a single stomp of its leg!
To make matters worse, the adamantortoise is one of the only sources for a rare catalyst component called Trapezohedron. You'll need 1 if you want to max out your weapon. You'll need 6 if you want to max out enough weapons to get the Treasure Hunter trophy. Oh yeah, and the drop rate is only 1%.
It's almost impossible to beat the adamantortoise head on. I used the first Trapezohedron to upgrade Vanille's staff into a Nirvana, which has the ability to cast the spell, Death. The death spell is pretty straightforward. It causes death. However, it also only has a 1% success rate but with a +1% chance for every status ailment the enemy has. For the tortoise it maxes out at 3%. This made farming trapezohedrons a little easier because you could just use Snow as a sentinel while Vanille spams death.
Finding these old pictures brought back fond memories of playing these games. I wish I could go back to that sensation of playing them for the first time, especially FFXII, before you know where everything is and have developed a mental map of the zones. I still have yet to play Final Fantasy VII, remake or original. I don't think it makes sense to go back to the original version on Playstation 1.
I will probably end up buying myself FFVII Intergrade for Christmas. Hopefully it is good.
Stay tuned for an abridged film version of Final Fantasy XII, currently in the work by yours truly. I don't know when I will release it. I have been working on it on and off for a few years now, with massive progress being made lately. Part 1 of 2 is mostly done, with part 2 started.
Thanks for reading!
"I'm just here to see how the story plays out."
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