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

To be fair to the old man, he doesn't say the "No effect" line; note there's no "Tellah:" before it, and you get it even if you come back later and try to soften the kids without him in your party.

So what you have here is an unreliable narrator.

...thanks for explaining the joke. I didn't get it the first time! (Truly.)

...how can I say this and not have it appear to be sarcastic? Affirmation just seems to make it worse.

It's a good thing we can't have animated avatars or we'd all have this one.

Whoops, didn't realise that Brick wasn't done posting (or I assumed he'd be done posting by the time my reply got added). Sorry for ruining the flow, even if I won the race to the Footloose joke.

Just a question for you, Mr. Brick. I've noticed that with all the times you've been in Baron you haven't looted the secret stash in the field behind Cid's house. Can you not do this in the SNES version? I only discovered it myself in the GBA version after having played the game at least 20 times.

Why do you tease us this way?

...Are you talking about the EarthBound strategy guide here?

This is obviously the case, but you'll recall that the strategy guide was bundled with retail (and rental) copies of the game. So folks might refer to it as the "manual" because it was the only literature packaged with the game that was actually worth reading.

??

Fuck, I forgot to post those, didn't I?

Kevin Baron movies.

Baron was named that for a reason you know. Pretty easy-to-spot reference, with that dancing girl and all.

I've been playing along; today after catching up with the LP I took my post-twins party on a side trip to loot Eblan. I hit something-or-other there with my Ancient Sword and sure enough, a dialog popped up saying "Cursed!" So there's still hope for that particular status ailment, at least.

It's a strategy guide that's meant to provide an interesting aside as players plough through the game. Complaining about the fact that yes, looking at the strategy guide to a game does indeed ruin the plot of the game is a bit silly. As if people read video game manuals, games were simple enough that you didn't need to back in the day, and nowadays there are in game tutorials.

The only difference is that the (incomplete) strategy guide to FFII was in the same booklet as the manual. I'm pretty sure Heff was saying that the literature packaged with FFII is nearly as full of spoilers as the literature packaged with Earthbound. I don't see anything incorrect about this statement.

People actually did read that stuff in the days before internet access was widespread. I didn't read it to learn how to play, I read it because the artwork was cool and I wanted to be sure I wasn't missing things.

If only tutorials were optional, like in FF3 in Narshe.

Fair enough, I thought he was talking about spoilers in the manual of the game, didn't really know there was a strategy guide that came with the manual of FF2.

You mean, like the training halls in FF4 and 6. Baron Castle had those soldiers explaining some tidbits, while the town proper had a whole classroom of people teaching you RPG (and specifically FF) notions if you needed them. I think there was one in Kaipo, too? Even Chrono Trigger had those kids explaining Techs and their relation to character positioning.

More modern RPGs need training halls. IIRC Persona 3 had Mitsuru offer explanations on invocation and One More!, which you could obviously turn down, but I don't remember if P4 did the same.

Don't forget FFVII's Sector 7, where the story necessitated a reversal, with a room full of people to whom Cloud taught the basics. Then some of their ghosts show up later for an advanced course in Junon.

I did. That was kind of neat, I'll admit. I also quite enjoyed the motorcycle minigame. At least you could try to Soft!Heal Palom and Porom. have the PC version...

I'll get back to drinking the kool-aid.

Sorry it looks terrible. Basically you enter these trees from this direction, and follow them around to the back of Cid's house.

Wait a minute, I've played this game like a hundred times and I think I would know if-

*checks*

*is admitted to hospital in catatonic state*

Kain's back has that effect on people.

I know about that secret passage and I somehow still manage to forget about it when I replay the game.

it's just that secret!!

Holy crap, something I knew about this game that other people didn't! Neat!

What the...

I've been through this game probably a dozen times in various incarnations and I've never known about Cid's backyard! :O

That one was actually pretty great.

Speaking of things that are pretty great, this video is a completely different take on the scene with Cecil and Rosa at the beginning of the game and I think you'll appreciate it.

Greatest Rick Roll ever?

It's in the top five, indeed.