How can they have 10 final fantasies but final fantasy 2 is the same as final fantasy 4 and final fantasy 3 is the same as final fantasy 6. I understand 6 and 4 are in Japenese but do they have more in Japan? What are 3 and 2 in Japan?
How can there be 10 final fantasies if final fantasy 4 is the same as final fantasy 2 and final fantasy 6 is the same as final fantasy 3. I understand that final fantasy 4 and 6 are in Japenese but do they have more final fantasies in Japan than in the united states?
What is final fantasy 2 and 3 in Japan?
Try http://eyesonff.com. They have a bunch of info on all of them. It should answer your questions.
Well, Square put out Final Fantasy for the Nintendo back in the 80’s. They then produced two more Nintendo sequels, Final Fantasy 2 and 3, which were not released in the US. When Final Fantasy 4 came out (for the Super Nintendo) they decided to release it here in the States, and decided to call it Final Fantasy 2 to preserve some sense of continuity. Square also made two more Super Nintendo games, Final Fantasy 5 and 6. FF5 never came out here, but FF6 was released as Final Fantasy 3.
When the franchise switched over to Playstation, Square decided to stop all the “double-lineage” stuff and released the next game as FF7 in Japan and the US. That was about where I stopped paying attention, so to my knowledge every Final Fantasy game released since then has had the same number in both markets.
FWIW, there were also several “sub-games” tangentially connected to the Final Fantasy line. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest was an entry-level RPG meant for first-time players. I played this one back on the Super Nintendo. There was also a game for the Playstation called Final Fantasy Tactics. I know very little about this game, except that instead of a small party you controlled larger armies. Someone with more knowledge will be along to fill you in. There were also (at least) three Final Fantasy Adventures for the Game Boy.
FF5 actually was released here, although it came out years later as part of a compilation package with FF6 on the PS1. Similarly, FF2 was released with FF1 on the PS1. FF3 has yet to be brought over, although I’ve heard they might package it with a game in the Secret of Mana series that was never released in the US.
And to further confuse the issue, there’s a game called Final Fantasy X-2 that serves as a direct sequel to Final Fantasy X. And I’m not entirely sure on this, but I think one of the Game Boy Final Fantasy Adventure games was actually part of the Secret of Mana series in Japan, but for whatever reason they changed the name over here.
There were 2 other Final Fantasy games released on the FamiCom that never made it to the U.S. You can play Final Fantasy 2 as a remake on Playstation (1) in the latest collection called Final Fantasy Origins, which has parts 1 and 2.
Final Fantasy 2 does not have the typical level-up-through-experience system - rather, you improve your mastery of weapons and spells by the frequency of their use plus the difficulty of the enemies you encounter.
Final Fantasy 3 implements a job-based system similar to Final Fantasy 5 where you have a generic class you start off with and then you can inherit the powers of a desired job (i.e. Fighter, Mage, etc.).
There was a duplicate thread on this topic that had a valid response, and hence the two threads have been merged.
That is the reason you see two OPs. Ignore it.
-xash
General Questions Moderator
The original Final Fantasy on NES had something good goin’ on that all later FF’s didn’t:
Choosing four characters from the (8? 6?) classes at the beginning of the game, and running the whole thing with only those four. I think it made your character development more variable, in a way. You could have all Black Mages, or all Fighters…
Typically a first-timer would choose a Fighter, Ninja, White Mage, and Black Mage, a team that seems balanced. Once I chose four Ninjas, and by the time they were Black Belts they were dealing phenomenal damage, making the game a cinch. And they didn’t need weapons, which saved lotsa $$.
I missed that element in the following FF’s. Most of the time, you could only use certain characters at certain times.
Final Fantasy Tactics was a game where you could build a party of 16 characters maximum, with some special characters with personalities that actually interact with the plot as well as generic characters that you can hire from towns(but start out with crappy skills and levels). There’s also a FF5ish class system where you can make any character into any class(once the needed prequistes have been reached), though some characters don’t need it.
The plot was remicent of the real life War of the Roses, taking place in the Middle age-era nation of Ivalice(supposed to be England), where only a year after a major war and subsequent crime and unemployment, the King dies with a year old male heir and the Princess is kidnapped. Two factions, both noble families with royal blood begin manuvering, via power plays and force of arms, to claim the throne which each believes is their proper birthright. There’s also a Catholic church-like entity that is invovled, a pseudo-christian mythos and a supernatural storyline as well. Definatly one of the deepest and most interesting plots in a Final Fantasy,or even any PSX game.
Battles are fought between 6 or so people on each side on a chessboard-like battlefield. Saves, redeployment of characters,and changing of weapons and skills,can be performed after almost battle, even if there are several battles in a row. There are no real dungeons(just a series of battelfields with a set number of enemies each time).
But the FF classes, items and chocobos are all here. Even a cameo or too. Also some nice subquests and even disctractions you can go on from each town.
The Thief would turn into a Ninja and the Black Belt would turn into a Master.
As far as utility goes, three Fighters plus a red or white Mage group is effective at all levels and easy to use. The cost of armor and weapons for all those Fighters can be mitigated partly by the ease with which this group handles the money-making random encounters and partly by only getting the best stuff for the first Fighter (who takes most of the hits) and using a hand-me-down strategy as you buy the next best gear. Later in the game just about all the gear is found instead of bought so you have plenty of money for various potions and the single Mage’s spells.
Use 3 Black Belt/Monks instead, and you can get away without armour after about level 10 (which is when Fighters start getting the REALLY expensive armour).
Granted, but the cost is only a temporary problem and Fighters can give and take the same damage as a higher level Black Belt. The low level healing magic after the class change is good for between-battle recovery so you can save the Mage’s more powerful healing spells for during battle.
Either your Fighters or my Monk are really pumped…
I’ve got a Monk/Warrior/Black/White party going right now in the Origins version and the Monk deals better than twice the damage the Warrior does (Average 550 vs 250). Has approximately 2/3 the HP at the moment, but his HP is climbing quickly…
::Suddenly wonders when this thread’s getting moved::
FF Tactics is a totally addictive game. It’s amazing (especially for stats geeks). I think it was based on a game called Tactics Ogre, or Battle Ogre, or something.
I’ve never actually finished it though, strangely enough. I always seem to lose interest just before the final battle.
Ogre Battle 1 remains one of the most kickass RTS games of all time. It was an Super Nintendo game, so you’d probably have to emulate it, but I heartily recommend it.
There was a sequel, Tactics Ogre, but I always preferred the original.
FF Tactics was loosely based on Ogre Battle for N64. Tactics Ogre was for GBA.
I wonder when earning Gil (or whatever currency will be called in future games) will have some real importance again, like it did in FF1. FF10 gil making was totally unecessary.
Remember Vandal Hearts for PS? That was fun too. Not quite as stat-dependent, but still good times.
Further clarification on the numbering schemes:
As a rule of thumb, the series of games released for Nintendo systems in the US are referred to with Arabic numerals–Final Fantasy 1, 2, and 3. The full series is referred to with Roman numerals–Final Fantasy I-X. Thus, Final Fantasy IV=Final Fantasy 2 and FFVI=FF 3. With the switch to Playstation, Square dropped the separate numbering, as Daver said, so from the seventh game onward, they’re all Roman numerals.
I think it would make sense to drop the separate schemes and just use the Roman numeral sequence in discussion, but old habits die hard.
Ah, I was refering to the oiginal game where the Black Belts tend to suck slightly.
I never used Black Belts in my copy of the original. Used Thieves instead, as I found they ran a whole lot better. (And I needed to run a whole lot.) But I don’t remember the classes being balanced noticably differently.
It wasn’t a huge difference but it was enough of a damper on the Black Belt’s stats to justify never using more than one in any goup. (This was fixed in the WSC version though) As for running, I never had any real trouble running with any group that had a Mage in it.