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

I don't really think there needs to be a debate about whether or not the player needs to be told they can push buttons or not. It's probably unnecessary, but the single text box isn't inconveniencing anyone.

Anyways, I feel that after such a lengthy non-interactive intro, the developers simply wanted to inform the player, "Okay, we're done, you can play now," and that just happened to be the way they went about it.

I think there's a difference between Square assuming that players need to be told "left moves you left" before they'll be able to play and some hypothetical mouthbreather who refuses to play before assured that "left moves you left."

Yeah, most likely. But still, attitudes like "there are just some people who are so dumb" really bother me (as evidenced by the way I can't let this topic go) and I hate hate hate when a game goes out of its way to tell me something that even a stupid baby would know.

man, i fucking love this game, and this LP is reminding me why.

Loki give the controller to Baby so we can see what's up.

LOKI YOUR BABY IS PUSHING B TO TALK

Nobody puts Baby in a tutorial.

- Eddie

Telling players YOU HAVE TO PUSH BUTTONS is silly.

Telling players THE A BUTTON IS TALK is not silly.

Telling players YOU SHOULD TALK TO PEOPLE is also not silly.

Since the entire tutorial fits in a single text box with room to spare, I think we can safely say that it doesn't overstay its welcome. And it does include legitimate information.

You know, FFIV's little dialogue box tutorial's nowhere near as intrusive as later games, but I'd really think people could've figured out that A's for talking just from the times you have to press it to get through the opening. And I'd really think a D-pad's function would be standard knowledge by now.

Still, there are games where stuff like tutorials would be very welcome, especially Koei's hard to penetrate simulation RPGs. I have no idea how the hell all the tons of different stats and mechanics in Uncharted Waters: New Horizons work in-game without some form of outside help, because there's tons of numbers and the game and its VC guide barely explain shit about how they work.

I should mention that the people I've met who have demanded to know what to do before they start aren't stupid people. They're actually just very cautious and don't like making mistakes or embarrassing themselves in front of more experienced players by hitting what's obviously the wrong button to a veteran player. Though even these people can figure out that the D-pad will move you around when that's the only directional control available to them.

Long story short, it's an ego thing, not an intelligence thing.

I think if anyone sat down to play a game with me and refused to start until I explained what every button did, I'd start making it up.

"Yeah, A jumps, Y attacks, R activates your psychic powers, hit X and L at the same time to turn into a car, and push select to throw a bunny. Yeah, you get to throw all kinds of animals: cats, then dogs, and later elephants and shit."

They probably wouldn't be my friend for long, but it'd be totally worth it.

Do you guys remember how Kain is left-handed? I'd say it looks like he's keeping his main hand free for his real spear.

Correct spear use has you grasp the rear end of the shaft with your dominant hand, actually. And yes, that can be taken either way.

I'd take Kain's spear either way.

Even when you've got a shield on the other arm?

Really, in Final Fantasy, Dragoons have never been very dragoonish, having neither horses nor guns. They're more like hoplites. 'Cause they jump!

So I started playing this on the Playstation, and then I bought a GBA player impulsively. Are slightly improved graphics, MUCH improved menus and the ability turn Edward into a badass worth the hit on the music coming out of my TV? Yeah, I think so.

So hopefully the PSP version with much better graphics, hopefully better menus, all of the extra content from the other versions (well, hopefully NOT the DS version) including the ability to turn Edward into a badass, hopefully a new dungeon, better music, and the ability to play After Years in an improved form will be the definitive version of Final Fantasy IV.

Sigh.... Probably, and I'll just end up buying it and playing this game again.

Exactly. Furthermore, some people are antisocial or think towns are boring and don't want to waste time talking to people before going on an adventure[1].

Word. I'm going to go try to not play FFIV. Thankfully (?), I think my SNES copy is in storage, and I don't want that lame GBA music even if the choose-your-own-party endgame is some of the most fun I have ever had in a video game. I need that pure SNES sound chip.

And for the off-topic sophomore humor: think of all the dragoons that Kain has trained in the proper use of a spear.

Degraded music quality be damned, I need a hit of this game. Quick, to the Bat-GBA!

Historical viewpoints on things sure are interesting, kids!

Haha what? That's like the exact opposite of what linear means.

Wait, what's wrong with that statement? Final Fantasy was less linear than Final Fantasy II, and it was a lot easier in the first game to wander around not knowing what you needed to do next. It's badly phrased and kind of confusing, but I feel like the writer was correct!

I can't help but read "unbeatable" as meaning anything other than "unwinnable."

It's more interesting that they're pondering why create an RPG for the SNES, when the entire console was more or less built from the ground up as the ultimate RPG machine.

What the Final Fantasy XIII advertisement should have been.

Slower system, a sound chip custom built to basically play 16-bit symphonies, wider graphical pallette than was strictly necessary for the games of the era... the SNES was perfect for Square and Enix. If you wanted to do an action game on it, though, it took a LOT more work or else you'd wind up with something that played like those early slowdown-heavy action games like Gradius III.

But that's the exact quality that made games for the SNES look so much better than their contemporaries, and it wasn't the RPGs that that pushed the envelope there. This game's visuals would have lost little besides the transparency effects if it had been made for the Mega Drive. That goes for FFV as well.