MeowPewterMeow
Log Status
Completed
Playing
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Rating
Time Played
--
Days in Journal
1 day
Last played
November 15, 2023
Platforms Played
Easily the weakest of the first set of SaGas that I've played so far, but that doesn't make it actually bad. This one wasn't really mechanically interesting so I didn't feel much like messing with the complicated shape changing system, but there's a charm to that. I'm sure there's people who've been through with the all robot party or what have you and that probably articulates in some new ways. I don't give a shit I wanna replay II instead.
I do think that most of the mechanical space of the design that started in FF2 was kind of exhausted and the director was different so there was an attempt to experiment in various ways. Most of those ways just end up circling back to making it more like a Dragon Quest, with character progression being handled via levelling up and the differences in weapon classes being nullified. You always have to have two physical characters and two magic characters and anyone can learn anything and there's no real reason for them not to. This would be the better one if you're a kid who can't wrap your head around the mechanics of the previous games but it's pretty disappointing for me now.
Storywise, it's also a lot less bold, but not without some cool ideas. The first half of the game is all about how your characters were sent to the past to like, grow up into protagonists and fight the bad guy, who is flooding the world. They don't do as much as you'd want with the concept, but you do get to travel the same world in three time periods and watch it change, like an early look at concepts that'd be more fleshed out in Chrono Trigger and probably other games. It's not MUCH but it stands out.
The second half of the game has you flying your own spaceship around, finding parts to upgrade it and crew to staff it. This is fun in the way that any RPG with a similar mechanic is fun, and it pays off more than you'd expect at the very end when the ship flies in to help you fight the final boss. Again, this will be done better in later games but it's here and it's enough of a draw to keep me going.
Also the enemy sprites are still just top tier. There's so many weird mouth monsters in this one holy hell it whips. Mouthy flesh wads for days. Bless them. Oh also being able to jump is a real innovation in the area of 'an npc has blocked me from going down this path and I have to wait for the rng to move it'.
I do think that most of the mechanical space of the design that started in FF2 was kind of exhausted and the director was different so there was an attempt to experiment in various ways. Most of those ways just end up circling back to making it more like a Dragon Quest, with character progression being handled via levelling up and the differences in weapon classes being nullified. You always have to have two physical characters and two magic characters and anyone can learn anything and there's no real reason for them not to. This would be the better one if you're a kid who can't wrap your head around the mechanics of the previous games but it's pretty disappointing for me now.
Storywise, it's also a lot less bold, but not without some cool ideas. The first half of the game is all about how your characters were sent to the past to like, grow up into protagonists and fight the bad guy, who is flooding the world. They don't do as much as you'd want with the concept, but you do get to travel the same world in three time periods and watch it change, like an early look at concepts that'd be more fleshed out in Chrono Trigger and probably other games. It's not MUCH but it stands out.
The second half of the game has you flying your own spaceship around, finding parts to upgrade it and crew to staff it. This is fun in the way that any RPG with a similar mechanic is fun, and it pays off more than you'd expect at the very end when the ship flies in to help you fight the final boss. Again, this will be done better in later games but it's here and it's enough of a draw to keep me going.
Also the enemy sprites are still just top tier. There's so many weird mouth monsters in this one holy hell it whips. Mouthy flesh wads for days. Bless them. Oh also being able to jump is a real innovation in the area of 'an npc has blocked me from going down this path and I have to wait for the rng to move it'.