"One to be born from a dragon..." -- Let's Play Final Fantasy II

So kinda a FUCK YOU to all of the Japanese fans of FF3, eh? Hell, even your proverbial ninja in FFIV isn't what most would consider overpowered, and Ninjas were the only party members you needed besides Sages in the original FF3, IIRC.

what? no way.

GAH

I just realized Mog is attempting a "sexy" pose there.

I can't unsee it.

sorry to derail the thread like this

Square is actually being pretty subversive here. The "weak, feeble old man" of the group is actually weak and feeble. Then suddenly he regains the long-lost powers of his youth, and... he still kind of sucks. But in FFV we go back to the "old people kick ass!" mentality to which we've become accustomed.

I feel the need to be the guy that points out that Final Fantasy 1-3 all had the blue screen of prose accompanied by the Prelude as the first screen you'd see whenever you turned on your console. So, for anyone that played FF4 wondering, "Where's my Prelude screen!?" it finally showing up at this point was probably a relief.

I know we're playing FF2 here, but it still sort of applies, as anyone that had played FF1 could still reach this point and realize, "Oh, cool, just like at the start of the other game."

Mog just looks too cool for school. Which is also good, but I don't find him adorable.

Quick, somebody shop sunglasses and possibly a cigarette onto him.

Porom is so smart because she pores over her books.

Palom just pals around with ya.

We didn't even have to wait that long. FuSoYa's supposed to be even older than Tellah and he's arguably the game's most capable magic user.

Or find a way to pose Percy like him.

FF1-3's prelude screens were matter-of-fact descriptions of each game's scenario while the Mysidian legend is more metaphorical and poetic, so I don't think it would have made a suitable prelude.

Pay attention, son!

It would have been even more spectacular if it reflected the mountain's actual surroundings on the map, but I'll admit this was still good stuff for a first-generation SNES game.

It doesn't help that the game's own artwork confuses the two.

Palom


Porom

uh, how so?

This artwork put Palom's face with Porom's colors.

But it does! On the world map Mt. Ordeals is surrounded by plains, with forests further out, and a much larger mountain range to the far north.

They're twins, so I imagine their faces look pretty much the same.

Palom's basically making the same face in his menu portrait as in his Amano art.

I still remember the first time I played this game, seeing Cecil wash up on shore, and walking to the nearby town.

When I saw the town's name, my first reaction was "Oh. Shit."

I love this game.

I hated them in Lost Odyssey.

Since the first time I played this was in '92, I always used to think Palom was Square's attempt at bringing a more Bart Simpson-ish character into the game.

Looking at that blue legend screen almost makes me wonder if that entire first chunk of the game is really just an extended prologue, and this is the real beginning. And I thought FF1 was edgy for waiting until you beat the first boss to give you the title screen.

But that mountain range is directly north only. The ocean should be to the northeast and northwest. Also, the ring of trees should attenuate before the mountain range.

And wearing Porom's clothes. Double check the colors!

On my first time playing I ran straight to the House of Prayers. I knew without checking that talking to anybody would get my ass kicked.

To be fair, I might have read the manual first.

Funny thing about this part - did you know if you enter the boat from Fabul with Cecil dead ("Fainted") he'll still be dead at this point? You can still move "zombie" Cecil around on the world map but if you run into a battle it's instantly a game over.

Oh... Palom. Why did you have to be such an annoying little punk right off the bat? This part of the game always made me think of that old saying - 'Never Work With Children Or Animals'.

Way to be a classy motherfucker there, Brickroad.

Man, I forgot how fucked-up Milon Z. looked.

Nerdy admission time here : Once long ago I translated both that saying of "Mirror" DKnight's and the legend from the sword into Latin (but I have forgotten most of the translated legend). I've also done the same for lines from other video games.

I also have always had trouble telling them apart. I usually always changed their names to make it easier to tell them apart. Seriously, Square - couldn't you have put a black mage hat (or baseball cap) on Palom or something?

Don't they look different in The After Years?

Romhacker #1: "Hey, you know what would be totally awesome?"
Romhacker #2: "What?"
#1: "If we added an enemy that hit like a truck, sped like Sonic the Hedgehog, and did that alligator double-attack every turn! Then we'd finally force the player to make liberal use of Blink!"
#2: "Hey, you know what would be even more awesome?"
#1: "What?"
#2: "If we included a Blue ZoiDBERG that did 9999 unblockable undodgeable damage as a tribute to FF1!"
#1 and #2: "Excellent!"

And thus the greatest romhack ever was born in the form of FF4HardType. Oh the bliss of ignorance.

That pretty much sums up almost every rom hack in existence. Somewhere along the line they lost sight of the idea of compelling game design in favor of LETS MAKE EVERYTHING INSANELY HARD GREAT IDEA EH? Cause that's what people loved about FF4, how blisteringly hard it was.

He suffers from strabismus.

Yes. Palom looks like what you'd expect him to, while Po's decided that she wants to wear this terrifying pink see-through thing. Also her hair is pink, because why not

Er, how else am I supposed to keep Edge alive while FoSoYa is in the party and he's forced into the front rank? Even if I am using Image.

Yeah, they're pretty insufferable, but you've gotta love how blatantly they were lifted at least. And I actually do really like how plot wise the adults keep'em out of harm's way... to the degree that slightly behind everyone else counts as out of harm's way.

Walking around on all fours, but with his left hand broken mostly off so he's actually leaning on the wrist bone, with the hand trailing behind (or simply twisted backwards), is actually pretty gruesome-but-clever. The fiends were good designs; unlike the WILD AND CRAZY AND MONSTROUS AND MULTI-LIMBED FF1 fiends, they're all rather simple and straightforward, but striking and memorable, with cool touches.

Also, I realize this isn't actually NEWS, but I assumed or remembered the twins being slightly older, so that sending them on dangerous missions was reckless by real-life standards, but justifiable in a melodramatic adventure tale.

But...THEY'RE ONLY FIVE!?
Jesus, Elder!

Hey, everyone makes mistakes. And being a religious leader makes you blind to, ah... certain precautions one should take when "communing" with that pretty White Mage in the Wishing Room.

Mistakes like that can be costly. For, say, 18 years or so. Mysidian tuition is at an all-time high. Do you think GP grows on the back of Chocobos? He's just trying to get rid correct his mistake before it gets too expensive.