InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I'll call you Steve French."

chibikaie (chibikaie) wrote,
@ 2008-01-25 12:27:00

Entry tags:

ffcc

ffcc notes

Crystal Chronicles has no levels. No, seriously. Instead, your stats can be improved by either equipping better stuff or by collecting "artifacts". Here's the kicker: you can only claim one artifact per dungeon. As you go through, you'll collect a number of them, and typically you'll find that defeating the boss of the dungeon awards one or two extra. But you can only choose one of the lot to keep on a permanent basis. To get any of the others from that dungeon, you have to stroll through the dungeon again, collect them again, and defeat the boss again. This takes leveling boredom to entirely new heights, especially in single player mode where you do not have anything in the way of options or variety for strategy.

The first dungeon, River Belle Path, is actually a very good one for doing some "level grinding." There are plenty of items to collect, including food (restore HP) and items you can sell for gil. The boss is also relatively easy to kill, compared to the next few. Since difficulty in each dungeon ramps up as you progress and as years go by as you collect myrrh, it will definitely pay off to spend as much time as you can stomach collecting every possible artifact and amassing enough materials and gil to have better equipment forged.

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zoifox
2008-01-27 01:06 am UTC (link)

...Aaaaaaand I should have scrolled down before asking what FFCC meant on the other post. (Incidentally, there are new FFCC games coming out for the DS and the Wii, although the former isn't due out until March and the latter, as far as I know, isn't done yet.)

Years? What's the timeline of the game?

The most recent Seiken Densetsu game (4/Dawn of Mana, for the PS2) resets your levels and skills entirely between dungeon areas, which means you get to re-acquire them in EVERY dungeon. Hooray! (I, uh, passed on that game. I mean, I'm not THAT much of a masochist.) I think I'd prefer FFCC's system.

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chibikaie
2008-01-27 01:20 am UTC (link)

Oh dear gods. EVERY dungeon? The hell?

I just picked up the GameCube FFCC because I heard that a moogle follows you around in single player. And that's entirely true, the moogles are extremely cute, but the tedium of the game is driving me insane. Also, I can't use magic as a single player. If they haven't fixed that very huge game imbalance for the new versions (meaning death if you take the time to cast spells), I'm definitely staying away from them.

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zoifox
2008-01-27 02:04 am UTC (link)

Every dungeon. I have no idea what they were thinking. I don't mind it so much in a setting like the Ancient Cave in Lufia 2, because that was a bonus dungeon and you got to keep certain REALLY GOOD pieces of equipment inside or outside the Ancient Cave, but as a central gameplay element, it sucks. A lot.

Wait, you can't use magic as a single player? What?

I've seen one source that says the DS FFCC will require you to find power-ups to use magic; you have to equip said magic after you find the power-ups. Whether they've tweaked the gameplay so you can actually cast a spell without getting killed, I don't know. No idea about the Wii FFCC.

Couldn't they move the cute moogles to a good FF game? =p

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chibikaie
2008-01-27 03:09 am UTC (link)

Here's the deal: casting spells requires charge time. Even when I play as a Yuke, with shorter charge time, I still have to aim the spell afterwards. If you get hit while you're charging or aiming, not only do you take damage but you lose your spell. Getting a spell to go off requires being fast enough to flank the enemy (guess what? Yukes are slow so doing that in the first place is difficult) and knowing how far away you need to be to charge up and aim before they catch up (learning things through trial and error sucks), plus having luck in that they have to decide not to cast a spell on YOU that goes off before yours does (for example, Thunder takes less time to cast than, say, Holy). If you're facing multiple enemies and can't lure them away one by one (such as during boss encounters), you're basically screwed.

Finally, when you are playing by yourself, Mog accompanies you to hold the chalice. However, he will get tired after a while. If you spend too much of a boss fight trying to dodge, he will get tired and not be able to keep up with you. That means you'll have to ask him to drop the chalice, then dash around the circle of protection madly so you aren't hit for more damage, until you decide that you can't take it any longer and ask him to pick it up again, in the hopes that he's no longer tired and will be able to follow you. Note that the boss is capable of moving wherever he wants during this time, so you may be stuck trying to avoid his attacks while being unable to damage him. (Moving too far beyond the chalice means you'll lose HP - the chalice has a shard of crystal that protects you from miasma.)

Oh, each year ends after you collect three drops of myrrh from three different dungeons. Once you've collected a drop from a myrrh tree, it won't give you more myrrh for two more years. So you can (and should) replay the dungeon numerous times to get more artifacts, but the game won't advance until you actually collect another drop.

Mog: It shall be an AWESOME FF game. I shall hunt down the evil white chocobo, Sephiroth, and together with my friend Moomba and our trusty sidekick Tonberry, we shall whoop his ass.

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zoifox
2008-01-27 03:21 am UTC (link)

That's a TERRIBLE system. I realize they were trying to play up the multiplayer angle, but why punish the single players?

The DS version has wifi multiplayer (of course). Hopefully the single player version won't be as broken, although I don't think I want to spend the money to find out.

The myrrh thing sounds frustrating, too.

Mog's game, however? I'd totally play that.

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chibikaie
2008-01-27 04:42 am UTC (link)

They also punish single players who do not hook a GBA up to the second controller slot - no radar maps, no enemy data (I don't even know what I'm fighting!) and no information on what rule influences bonus points awarded per dungeon run (it's random and affects the loot I get). And, well, apparently multiple players do not escape the punishment; without a moogle, one person must carry the chalice at all times - which slows your pace down to a crawl. Also, you can't fight while holding the chalice, so you must either drop the chalice and fight within its circle of protection, or you're back to single player tactics despite having two people (or needing three or four people, with one just to hold the chalice). Finally, to fuse spells in multiplayer (Gravity and Holy being the main ones), both players must charge spells, and then they have to have the target circles overlap, and THEN they have to release the A button in a certain order or you might get the wrong spell (believe me, you don't want to cast Slow instead of Holy). That would probably mean that to successfully cast fused spells in multiplayer, you would need a minimum of three players - because the third one would be on monster-intercept duty.

You could probably get away with one person devoted to physical attacks and the other carrying the chalice and dropping it to cast spells (or use focus attacks, which work a lot like spells and can even be fused with magic). But that's the only way I can think of to use any magic at all.

Right now, I have a Clavat who is doing fairly well for Year 2 - she's even saved up enough gil to get better equipment than she would get from normal item drops - but it's very boring with no magic. Clavats are actually pretty good at magic, but they're slow about it. Plus, she just got a cool sword with a fancy projectile-based focus attack - but again, she cannot use it because I don't dare take out the time to charge it.

I can't decide whether to keep trying (maybe I should start a Yuke and spend hours level grinding?) or return the game. There's always Harvest Moon.

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zoifox
2008-01-28 05:16 am UTC (link)

Lord. That sounds terrible.

And speaking of sounding terrible, RPGFan has a preview of the DS FFCC. Apparently they've beefed up the single player mode... except for the part where you can't choose your race or class unless you're playing a multiplayer game. You are, in fact, locked into playing a male Clavat with a sword. Of course.

Anyway, the link's here.

You're more patient than I; I would have dropped FFCC a while ago, I think.

How is Harvest Moon? I've never played any of those games.

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chibikaie
2008-01-30 02:21 am UTC (link)

Oh gods. That is horrible. Clavats are the best race for going solo, but the fact that they structured the game to fail if the player chooses a different race does not mean that they're being smart about it. What is it about Nintendo consoles and FF being unable to implement a not-completely-stupid game system? Last time, they created viera for FFTA and ruined everything they set up with the laws.

I was on the verge of dropping FFCC the other day when I encountered the Striped Bandits. They are a group of amusingly incompetent thieves consisting of two male Selkies (one old 'Gramps' who sleeps through a thieving attempt on you) and a moogle, Artemcion (I think). In this encounter, they surround you at a Y-crossing, demanding gil. Your choices are to "Pay up" or "Charge." Being a stingy miser, I chose "Charge." The camera angle then swings between the moogle and the old geezer. The moogle says, "Moogles are too cute to hurt!" Then the camera zeros in on him and your caravan boots him into the air. Your diary afterwards says, "Sorry I ran you over, little moogle. I had a feeling you'd survive."

Oh, dear. Harvest Moon is definitely a game for the obsessive. Like, four page spreadsheet type obsessive. There's a lot of repetition and monotony involved, unfortunately, but I have usually found that the thrill of saving up for that next big thing to be rewarding despite of it. But I have always found that playing any of the Harvest Moons taxes my brain. I mean, it sounds stupid, but my farmer has to get up, take care of the animals (this may range from simply giving the dog his daily hug to dealing with chickens, cows, and sheep), take care of crops (and if I didn't stagger crops nicely it may mean spending several game hours yanking sweet potatoes out of the ground), go run and collect any wild produce, talk or hand out gifts to villagers (must remember any birthdays), make a run to buy any supplies (have to remember what stores are open when), then cram in some wood chopping or mining at the end of the day. Oh, I forgot to add fishing. It gets really complicated. Activities do vary by game; I still haven't quite gotten used to Innocent Life, which has a much slower pace (there isn't nearly enough to do in a day at first, and I can't even justify spending all my time making friends of the villagers because they won't accept gifts). Then there are all the festivals, courting a girl (or a boy), cooking ... and every new game, it seems like they've added something else that just ups the bar for crazy people who like to do everything. Like, some games you can marry the Harvest Goddess ... but you have to complete a ridiculous set of requirements before she'll propose.

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zoifox
2008-01-30 03:00 am UTC (link)

It looks like they're not even allowing you to choose another race in the DS game, though. Not unless you're playing multiplayer.

Can we just skip this game and get FFIV DS instead? Pretty please?

... ... ... *twitch* Dammit, listen to the moogle! He does not lie! =p

It occurs to me that any moogle who opted to go evil would be extraordinarily successful, based on this line of reasoning. But still!

Hm. I'm not sure if I'd like Harvest Moon or not. Not that I can't be obsessive with the minutiae in my games (see also: Disgaea 2) but I would probably feel guilty for not playing for a while. (This is why I stay the hell away from pet simulation games, too; yes, I realize I'm not rational.) It does sound interesting, though. Which Harvest Moon game would you recommend?

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chibikaie
2008-01-31 07:40 am UTC (link)

But ... but ... he is SO CUTE when you charge him! He is all round and fuzzy! Also, he kind of does this "uh, you're not really going to ...? uh, AHHHHH!" thing when he realizes that you're going to run him over.

Hm, you have a DS ... my personal favorite is More Friends of Mineral Town - which is the girl GBA version of the PS game, Harvest Moon: Back to Nature. (Though I haven't played any of the DS Harvest Moon games.) Back to Nature is my favorite, but if I remember correctly, the GBA versions (aside from being fairly faithful ports) introduced even higher levels of insanity and allow you to save anywhere, anytime. Traditionally, HM games only allow you to save at the end of each day. Given the amount of time and effort it's possible to put into a day, making one critical mistake at the end of playing for over an hour can easily drive you crazy. Not that you can't recover from pretty much any mistake - it takes actual effort to kill off an animal and I'd be honestly surprised if anyone has ever managed to lose the game - but, well. I have fewer problems being obsessive when I'm allowed to save before trying something idiotic.

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	zoifox 2008-02-01 02:25 am UTC (link)
	So, did he survive? And thanks for the advice re: Harvest Moon. Although I should probably work on my current backlog, shouldn't I, before adding to it? ^^; (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

chibikaie
2008-02-12 12:17 am UTC (link)

Well, technically, I haven't seen the Striped Bandits after that as I stopped playing that game, but ... really. He's a moogle. Moogles have wings. If you throw a moogle into the air, he's not going to land, he's going to flap back to you and kick you in the eye.

^^ If you ever do pick up Harvest Moon, do let me know. I'd love to see what you make of it. Although I have to admit that part of it's because I want to know if going from M-rated games to watering turnips is enough to give you culture shock.

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	zoifox 2008-02-12 04:48 am UTC (link)
	Good point. And I dunno... I tend to do okay shifting from M-Rated to E-Rated. I mainly have problems if I shift between RPGs with radically different control setups/systems. (Nocturne to Dragon Quest was a bit painful at first; I kept using items by mistake.) I do want to pick up the new Professor Layton game, though. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	chibikaie 2008-02-12 06:04 am UTC (link)
	Technically, I think most of the HM games had to be rated higher than E because they contain alcoholic beverages. Still - turnips. Which reminds me - if you pick up a game I've played in the past, I might have spreadsheets for it lying around somewhere. The gift ranking sheet is admittedly overboard but the cost analysis ones are handy. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

zoifox
2008-02-12 04:11 pm UTC (link)

*gasp* Oh noes, alcoholic beverages! Teh h0rr0r! =D

(Incidentally, in SMT: Longtitle, you can quickly raise a demon's loyalty by giving it specific types of sake. Yes, you can get your demons drunk. I haven't actually done this; I usually just sell the sake for quick cash.)

Turnips... I think the last game I played involving turnips was Super Mario Brothers 2. Although you weren't growing them there.

I'll keep the spreadsheets in mind! Thank you.

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