Wednesday, March 25, 2020

TEXT PLAY QUICKIE: Final Fantasy 4: Chronicles Version (2001; PS1): Issue #002: Slow and Steady


There's quite a bit of grinding going on in the sessions that this post covers, but I think I mentioned there would be last time.

It's really not a terribly important thing while Cecil's still a Dark Knight, of course. Even though we start the game with Kain and wind up with Rosa and Rydia in the party now, all three will be swapped in and out of the party a few times between now and the end of the game, and I'm not sure if they're at a fixed level when they come back each time or if they get to keep anything above that, should they be at a higher level when they go.

At any rate, I spent most of the first session grinding for the Imp summon in the area of Damcyan Castle, like I usually do in the SNES version. I did some before I got Rosa, as well. I'd forgotten there was a secret area in the pass from Kaipo to the little break in the mountains just south of the castle, so I went and got all that. In this version, it has a Life potion, an X-Potion and an Ether2 in it.

After I got Rosa, I spent most of my time in the area of the castle, trying to get the Imp summon, as I mentioned. It looks like that may be a more difficult thing in this version, because I remember Imps being a much more common enemy in the area. I suppose I also knew that the TinyMages they also sometimes appear with could be confused by Edward's harp attack and cast the Death or Fatal spell on the party instead of their normal attacks. I've done this game often enough now that I probably should have, but still forget anyway.

Once I realized that trying to get that summon now was going to be unproductive, I decided to call it a night and move on to Mt. Hobbs in the next session.

The second session for this one was a reminder that this version is noticably more difficult than the US version I'm used to. I usually don't have much trouble getting through this part in the US version, but in this case, the party took a lot of damage, and I even lost Rosa a couple times. The extra challenge will get increasingly frustrating from here, I'm sure, but at the same time, I do find it enjoyable. It's a nice change compared to what I've become used to over the last 30 years or so.

Another thing I like, as I've mentioned a time or two, is how they've cleaned up the story some so that it's less clunky and makes a little more sense. The scene where Rydia learns the Fire spell to melt the ice blocking the path is quite a bit clearer about why it's important that it happens.

Better yet is when the party meets Yang on the Summit. They explain who he is and how and why all this is going down much better. They even call him a High Monk rather than a Karate Man like in the US version.

Between the difficulties I'd had getting through Mt. Hobbs and then being dumb about getting to the Fat Chocobo in the Chocobo Forrest near Fabul, it seemed like a good place to stop for the night, so when I pick up next time, I'll be outside Fabul, ready to do that part one more time.

And with that in mind, I think I'm gonna wrap this part of the series up, too. I've been a bit lax about posting things lately, and kind of want to get more up again. So, as I was saying, we'll be starting with Fabul next time.

Until then, stay safe, have fun, keep gaming, and DFTBA.

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