The only other location in XIII I can remember is Palumpolum. I remember Vanille and Sazh end up in a Golden Casino-esque location, but I couldn't tell you the name of it. Everything else is ruins and dungeons until they get to Pulse.
Even after you get to Pulse, it's not any more open than, say, the Calm Lands in X. I miss the days of the sort of tiered exploration we got with the different vehicles in 7 and 8.
"Tiered exploration" is a beautiful way of putting exactly what I love about FFVII's sense of scale and progression. In brass tacks gameplay, the bestiary and usual varied tiles of the world with their own unique beast varieties keep me on the hunt (namely for the mobs with the healthiest AP yield). And as the game graduates you to the different forms of transportation, thoughtfully expounding on when and where it lets you snoop around, those aspects of the game go from a "journey as the destination," "make your own path to the next plot point" to a an involved, player-driven forage for goodies and poaching spots that's both mentally engaging and almost zen in a way. It's true that the main game is fairly linear and a lot of the true game's wide-open shores are really a keyhunt for the next story bit, but it's a very choose-your-own-path, mileage-and-footprints-will-vary experience.
Hmmm...yeah I can't argue against that. There are a lot of branching paths even in FF2. Did I mention I hate FF2jp? lol
Oh Firion I wanted to like you.
Trap closets don't count as branches, IMO. From what I remember, FF2 is horrifyingly linear, they just obfuscate it by not telling you where the path actually is.
Well...I think FF1 is pretty open on how you approach the Crystals/Orbs. FF2...well yeah maybe on second thought it's basically town>dungeon>town>dungeon. FF3 I think is pretty linear too with no branches at all. FF4 does have a few branches (when you get the airship, when you get the airship plating and the endgame come to mind). FF5 world 3 is pretty open. FF6 has some points in the WoB were it's pretty open and well lol WoR.
WoR is pretty much entirely open. Get Setzer and the airship and you can do everything else in any order you want. Including none of it.
Hmmm...yeah I can't argue against that. There are a lot of branching paths even in FF2. Did I mention I hate FF2jp? lol
Oh Firion I wanted to like you.
Trap closets don't count as branches, IMO. From what I remember, FF2 is horrifyingly linear, they just obfuscate it by not telling you where the path actually is.
Well...I think FF1 is pretty open on how you approach the Crystals/Orbs. FF2...well yeah maybe on second thought it's basically town>dungeon>town>dungeon. FF3 I think is pretty linear too with no branches at all. FF4 does have a few branches (when you get the airship, when you get the airship plating and the endgame come to mind). FF5 world 3 is pretty open. FF6 has some points in the WoB were it's pretty open and well lol WoR.
WoR is pretty much entirely open. Get Setzer and the airship and you can do everything else in any order you want. Including none of it.
Yeah, I really think FFVI did the open world aspect the best, and it also mirrors the narrative beautifully. The WoB is pretty open but still has parts that are pretty on rails due to how the story unfolds and the urgency the characters place on getting certain things done quickly. In the WoR the heroes have already lost, and it's up to Celes to put the band back together (or not!) to try and finish the fight.
Yeah, I think lionheart is lol-ing at the thought of someone saying World of Ruin is in any way linear. Even before getting the airship, you still have the options of get Sabin or not, and visit Terra or not (and can do those two things in either order)
World of Ruin is the endgame area of every FF game where it becomes 'do side stuff, or just go beat the game'
Technically FF5 did it first with World 3 before WoR. But yeah, since FF5 that kinda became a trope of sorts. Come to think of it, FF8 didn't do it because...that's another game that was pretty open but VERY linear in the end. I mean, there are no towns in Disc 4. FF9 didn't do the open world bit either IIRC. It was basically going to Memoria on Disc 4. The sq stuff was done (or I remember getting it done) by disc 3 before heading to Terra.
FF10 had a lot of SQ before going to Sin. FFXII...oh man so much sidequest content (bosses, dungeons, hunts) at any point in the story. And well FFXV I think you could say has a lot of stuff after the ending but it's pretty open from the get go too. In the end...FF13, 2 and 3 might be the most linear FFs.
The best way to approach any Final Fantasy argument online is to figure out what the majority thinks and argue the exact opposite until everyone else has left. It's like the Highlander.
I'm a XIII defender too, but even I agree that The Corridors and how the world is presented is a problem, especially from a story perspective.
One of the big conflicts of the story is that the main characters may have to destroy Cocoon in order for themselves to survive. But...the game never really gives you any reason to care about Cocoon as a place at all. Serah, Dahj and Hope's parents are the ONLY NPCs that give the characters any kind of motivation. And I really think that hurts the game's central conflict, and shows how important having some kind of towns and just some kind of setting and general is so important to an RPG
By contrast, I don't think it can't be understated how strong the PSX games manage to establish Midgar, the Garden, and Alexandria feel alive and lived in. There's so much stuff you do in them, weird side characters to meet, and when you have to fight to liberate them or defend them from invasion I think there's a a definite emotional connection that makes the events meaningful. They're just so good at establishing a kind of "home" for you and it makes such a difference. (For the record, though Besaid doesn't feel too important in X, i feel similar attention is given to all of Spira in general. Same with XII but maybe nowhere near as much success)
As the kids today say... don't at me...? Whatever that means.
"The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
All I have to add is that linearity isn't a bad thing at face value. Also on that note, as far as progression is concerned, the entire Final Fantasy series is mostly linear. Even if you can run around an overworld, where you need to go is pretty hard coded. The first Final Fantasy game may be the most "open world" in some regards because you can actually perform plenty of shit "out of order."
Also all that said I like Final Fantasy X plenty. It's certainly silly and facepalm at some times ("HA. HA. HA. HA.") but I fucking loved the sphere grid. Going through the game in linear fashion was also reinforced by its overarching plot beat; you were accompanying Yuna on her pilgrimage. You're going from point A to point B. That's what a pilgrimage is.
And with X, the story and map structure encourage you to check out the little side things, look around, and just generally be a tourist.
On the Mi'ihen Highroad, the first leg of the journey, there's Maechen, the old man who tells you the history of the region if you'll listen. Or Dona the friendly rival summoner who you'll see several times to test the strength of Yuna's aeons.
And with X, the story and map structure encourage you to check out the little side things, look around, and just generally be a tourist.
On the Mi'ihen Highroad, the first leg of the journey, there's Maechen, the old man who tells you the history of the region if you'll listen. Or Dona the friendly rival summoner who you'll see several times to test the strength of Yuna's aeons.
Explore. Learn. Breathe it in.
By comparison, there's FFXIII:
RUN
XIII tells it like it is. Until Pulse, anyway. From the get-go though, it's "we don't have time for this, we need to keep ahead of PSI-Com".
By contrast, you have moments in other FFs or other JRPGs where there's imminent danger coming (FF7's meteor, FF6's floating continent, Dragon Quest XI's meteor...) but you know what? Let's breed chocobos! Let's go to the casino! Let's fight ancient weapons with 2million HP! The end of the world is nigh, but we can sleep days at an inn in that town that we parked the airship next to, and nothing happens.
World of Ruin is the endgame area of every FF game where it becomes 'do side stuff, or just go beat the game'
Technically FF5 did it first with World 3 before WoR. But yeah, since FF5 that kinda became a trope of sorts. Come to think of it, FF8 didn't do it because...that's another game that was pretty open but VERY linear in the end. I mean, there are no towns in Disc 4. FF9 didn't do the open world bit either IIRC. It was basically going to Memoria on Disc 4. The sq stuff was done (or I remember getting it done) by disc 3 before heading to Terra.
FF10 had a lot of SQ before going to Sin. FFXII...oh man so much sidequest content (bosses, dungeons, hunts) at any point in the story. And well FFXV I think you could say has a lot of stuff after the ending but it's pretty open from the get go too. In the end...FF13, 2 and 3 might be the most linear FFs.
I would not say that FF8 was linear at the end. Disk 4 was 'the final dungeon plus cutscenes'. I would say the 'end' of the game is when you get the Ragnarok and can fly around everywhere and finally explore the world fully.
I've just always thought of FFs as linear in play, with side stories and minigames offering nonlinear distractions. That period at damn near every FF towards the end where you finish anything you haven't yet finished before hitting the final boss is not a story-zone, but some kind of restless dream the characters have before actually buckling down and heading to the final dungeon.
I mean, none of these things really make sense. For all FFXIII was a rush, i sure spent hours exploring and leveling a zone when "OH noes PSI-COM" was right behind me. Must be extremely bad at pursuit if I can run away so slowly and all.
“There are no happy endings, because nothing ends.” ... also, "Ah, turn blue!"
XBOne | LyrKing
Yes, but nobody ever doubted SE would deliver on that front.
S-E produced also gorgeous (excluding the bad streaming compression) "gameplay video" of a FFVII remake...four years ago, now?
And then more than a decade ago, they produced a gorgeous introductory sequence video for FFVII hinting at what it would look like on Playstation 3. Which, given how actual PS3 games generally looked, was probably bullshit, but you know, still gorgeous!
Square-Enix has been massively successful in the area of "Creative demonstrations of what the world of FFVII might look like on modern hardware."
Yes, but nobody ever doubted SE would deliver on that front.
S-E produced also gorgeous (excluding the bad streaming compression) "gameplay video" of a FFVII remake...four years ago, now?
And then more than a decade ago, they produced a gorgeous introductory sequence video for FFVII hinting at what it would look like on Playstation 3. Which, given how actual PS3 games generally looked, was probably bullshit, but you know, still gorgeous!
Square-Enix has been massively successful in the area of "Creative demonstrations of what the world of FFVII might look like on modern hardware."
And with X, the story and map structure encourage you to check out the little side things, look around, and just generally be a tourist.
On the Mi'ihen Highroad, the first leg of the journey, there's Maechen, the old man who tells you the history of the region if you'll listen. Or Dona the friendly rival summoner who you'll see several times to test the strength of Yuna's aeons.
Explore. Learn. Breathe it in.
By comparison, there's FFXIII:
RUN
Dona was the mean girl. The one you would keep fighting was...Bel...Belde...
*googles*
Belgemine.
FF XIV - Qih'to Furishu (on Siren), Battle.Net - Ilpala#1975
Switch - SW-7373-3669-3011
Fuck Joe Manchin
And with X, the story and map structure encourage you to check out the little side things, look around, and just generally be a tourist.
On the Mi'ihen Highroad, the first leg of the journey, there's Maechen, the old man who tells you the history of the region if you'll listen. Or Dona the friendly rival summoner who you'll see several times to test the strength of Yuna's aeons.
Explore. Learn. Breathe it in.
By comparison, there's FFXIII:
RUN
XIII tells it like it is. Until Pulse, anyway. From the get-go though, it's "we don't have time for this, we need to keep ahead of PSI-Com".
By contrast, you have moments in other FFs or other JRPGs where there's imminent danger coming (FF7's meteor, FF6's floating continent, Dragon Quest XI's meteor...) but you know what? Let's breed chocobos! Let's go to the casino! Let's fight ancient weapons with 2million HP! The end of the world is nigh, but we can sleep days at an inn in that town that we parked the airship next to, and nothing happens.
It's hard to argue that FFXIII didn't more consistently convey "urgency" in a way I don't recall any game in the franchise doing so. Before that, you had X's "imminent arrival of Sin whatever the fuck that really means besides storm damage" and VII's somewhat more effective "Holy shit there's a gigantic meteor above Midgar, and the only other people who tried to shoot it down (Shinra) failed". But they're both doing so with a wink and assurances that there's time to breed a few more chocobos and dodge a few more lightning strikes.
It's not huge praise, but it's praise nonetheless.
I was a XIII detractor for the longest time just because it was the hip thing to do. I refreshed my memory of what gameplay looked like yesterday and I was like, oh shit, am I seeing separate Act meters for executing commands like Grandia? Is that a ranking screen that enhances your loot if you do better in a battle? All that stuff seemed pretty cool, but not long after I was falling asleep and getting uncomfortable reminders of The Spirits Within in regard to Square's CGI spectacle-driven storytelling.
I enjoy XIII for what it is. The combat is fun and the music is great. But the world and characters and emotions feel so hollow to me. It's a pretty candy shell but when you bite into there's nothing there. I think the depiction of the world and the whole need to be on the run felt hollow as well. There's some nice things about XIII, but it's definitely not greater than the sum of its parts.
Disk 4 of FF8 is not just the final dungeon. You can go back to the world map, you can track down the ragnarok, you can complete any GF sidequest you missed. You cant enter any towns but if you did the Card Club sidequest you can play triple triad with the card club members on the ragnarok.
Man it's been too long, but I think you get your missing GFs in Ultimecia's Castle (a welcome change from the original Japanese release) from the boss fights. Can you do the Underground Lab SQ in Disc 4? I usually just do it ASAP in Disc 3 once you get the Ragnarok.
By the way, mildly related. Ultimecia's Castle? Still the best Final Dungeon (tm) in FF. Skyfortress Bahamut? The Crystal Tower? bah I say! Kefka's Tower is a good runner up.
Also in regards to her. A detail about her boss battle that I didn't notice till it was pointed out in the english Ultimania book
Her final boss form? The weird faceless alien thing? It may be hard to see at first with the polygonal graphics but the greyish thing hanging underneath her torso? That's actually her OLD BODY, swinging around and bound up like a discarded husk. I wonder if Anima was inspired by it?
Ultimecia was an awesome final boss fight.
Four phases, random starting team, if someone's down for too long they are forever dead, replaced by the next random person. She can obliterate your GF shields and ruin your junctioned stats.
If you didnt kill all of her servants you might be missing certain commands.
If the game wasnt so easy to break she'd probably be regarded as the hardest final boss in any final fantasy. Maybe Cloud of Darkness.
Ultimecia was an awesome final boss fight.
Four phases, random starting team, if someone's down for too long they are forever dead, replaced by the next random person. She can obliterate your GF shields and ruin your junctioned stats.
If you didnt kill all of her servants you might be missing certain commands.
If the game wasnt so easy to break she'd probably be regarded as the hardest final boss in any final fantasy. Maybe Cloud of Darkness.
Oh, yeah, the fight was really amazing. It's just that it feels a bit hollow due to her being off-stage for essentially the entire game. I mean, yeah, she was possessing Edea, but that was more or less just a really cliche and generic evil without depth. It would've been cool if we had more than just "Mwahahahaha Time Kompression!"
Ultimecia was an awesome final boss fight.
Four phases, random starting team, if someone's down for too long they are forever dead, replaced by the next random person. She can obliterate your GF shields and ruin your junctioned stats.
If you didnt kill all of her servants you might be missing certain commands.
If the game wasnt so easy to break she'd probably be regarded as the hardest final boss in any final fantasy. Maybe Cloud of Darkness.
Oh, yeah, the fight was really amazing. It's just that it feels a bit hollow due to her being off-stage for essentially the entire game. I mean, yeah, she was possessing Edea, but that was more or less just a really cliche and generic evil without depth. It would've been cool if we had more than just "Mwahahahaha Time Kompression!"
She wasn't off-stage, she's an active party member through most of the game.
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
God I hate that most of 8's story isn't actually told to you and you have to infer it from the codex in the game.
I hated how 8 had me suffering Squall's meh for hours and then gave me whiplash by gassing him and giving me control of another group of people I hadn't seen before.
Ultimecia was an awesome final boss fight.
Four phases, random starting team, if someone's down for too long they are forever dead, replaced by the next random person. She can obliterate your GF shields and ruin your junctioned stats.
If you didnt kill all of her servants you might be missing certain commands.
If the game wasnt so easy to break she'd probably be regarded as the hardest final boss in any final fantasy. Maybe Cloud of Darkness.
Oh, yeah, the fight was really amazing. It's just that it feels a bit hollow due to her being off-stage for essentially the entire game. I mean, yeah, she was possessing Edea, but that was more or less just a really cliche and generic evil without depth. It would've been cool if we had more than just "Mwahahahaha Time Kompression!"
She wasn't off-stage, she's an active party member through most of the game.
Is this a R = U reference which the devs flat out said wasn't correct/intended?
God I hate that most of 8's story isn't actually told to you and you have to infer it from the codex in the game.
I hated how 8 had me suffering Squall's meh for hours and then gave me whiplash by gassing him and giving me control of another group of people I hadn't seen before.
Another group that was far more interesting than Squall's. Better combat music, too.
Ninja Snarl PMy helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered Userregular
They could've at least hinted at Ultimecia's presence in some way throughout the course of the game. Seeing her in split-second frame-long flashes when talking with certain characters would have been something simple and mysterious, and then made it so much more interesting when you roll up on the fight against her and you're like "SHE'S BEEN SCREWING WITH ME THE WHOLE TIME!" Wouldn't have to be anything obvious like she appears right beside certain characters or anything, just things like she flashes by in the backgrounds of groups or in odd locations, but ONLY when certain characters are part of the scene.
Considering that her plan was to basically destroy time to rule reality, we really should've gotten to see some more stuff from her before she actually appears. That's a pretty gnarly plan from a nasty boss to just keep tucked away the whole game.
+6
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
God I hate that most of 8's story isn't actually told to you and you have to infer it from the codex in the game.
I hated how 8 had me suffering Squall's meh for hours and then gave me whiplash by gassing him and giving me control of another group of people I hadn't seen before.
Another group that was far more interesting than Squall's. Better combat music, too.
I didn't care enough to continue. I ran into one random battle with the people and I gave up. FF8 never hooked me so making it that far was a feat for me.
Posts
"Tiered exploration" is a beautiful way of putting exactly what I love about FFVII's sense of scale and progression. In brass tacks gameplay, the bestiary and usual varied tiles of the world with their own unique beast varieties keep me on the hunt (namely for the mobs with the healthiest AP yield). And as the game graduates you to the different forms of transportation, thoughtfully expounding on when and where it lets you snoop around, those aspects of the game go from a "journey as the destination," "make your own path to the next plot point" to a an involved, player-driven forage for goodies and poaching spots that's both mentally engaging and almost zen in a way. It's true that the main game is fairly linear and a lot of the true game's wide-open shores are really a keyhunt for the next story bit, but it's a very choose-your-own-path, mileage-and-footprints-will-vary experience.
WoR is pretty much entirely open. Get Setzer and the airship and you can do everything else in any order you want. Including none of it.
Yeah, I really think FFVI did the open world aspect the best, and it also mirrors the narrative beautifully. The WoB is pretty open but still has parts that are pretty on rails due to how the story unfolds and the urgency the characters place on getting certain things done quickly. In the WoR the heroes have already lost, and it's up to Celes to put the band back together (or not!) to try and finish the fight.
Technically FF5 did it first with World 3 before WoR. But yeah, since FF5 that kinda became a trope of sorts. Come to think of it, FF8 didn't do it because...that's another game that was pretty open but VERY linear in the end. I mean, there are no towns in Disc 4. FF9 didn't do the open world bit either IIRC. It was basically going to Memoria on Disc 4. The sq stuff was done (or I remember getting it done) by disc 3 before heading to Terra.
FF10 had a lot of SQ before going to Sin. FFXII...oh man so much sidequest content (bosses, dungeons, hunts) at any point in the story. And well FFXV I think you could say has a lot of stuff after the ending but it's pretty open from the get go too. In the end...FF13, 2 and 3 might be the most linear FFs.
He also did a lot of the soundtrack for Dirge of Cerberus if i remember correctly. I may be one of the few people that kinda liked that game though.
Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198004484595
One of the big conflicts of the story is that the main characters may have to destroy Cocoon in order for themselves to survive. But...the game never really gives you any reason to care about Cocoon as a place at all. Serah, Dahj and Hope's parents are the ONLY NPCs that give the characters any kind of motivation. And I really think that hurts the game's central conflict, and shows how important having some kind of towns and just some kind of setting and general is so important to an RPG
By contrast, I don't think it can't be understated how strong the PSX games manage to establish Midgar, the Garden, and Alexandria feel alive and lived in. There's so much stuff you do in them, weird side characters to meet, and when you have to fight to liberate them or defend them from invasion I think there's a a definite emotional connection that makes the events meaningful. They're just so good at establishing a kind of "home" for you and it makes such a difference. (For the record, though Besaid doesn't feel too important in X, i feel similar attention is given to all of Spira in general. Same with XII but maybe nowhere near as much success)
I also love your most hated Final Fantasy game.
As the kids today say... don't at me...? Whatever that means.
Also all that said I like Final Fantasy X plenty. It's certainly silly and facepalm at some times ("HA. HA. HA. HA.") but I fucking loved the sphere grid. Going through the game in linear fashion was also reinforced by its overarching plot beat; you were accompanying Yuna on her pilgrimage. You're going from point A to point B. That's what a pilgrimage is.
On the Mi'ihen Highroad, the first leg of the journey, there's Maechen, the old man who tells you the history of the region if you'll listen. Or Dona the friendly rival summoner who you'll see several times to test the strength of Yuna's aeons.
Explore. Learn. Breathe it in.
By comparison, there's FFXIII:
RUN
Yes, but nobody ever doubted SE would deliver on that front.
3DS: 0473-8507-2652
Switch: SW-5185-4991-5118
PSN: AbEntropy
I doubted everything
I still doubt but at least I want to believe again
XIII tells it like it is. Until Pulse, anyway. From the get-go though, it's "we don't have time for this, we need to keep ahead of PSI-Com".
By contrast, you have moments in other FFs or other JRPGs where there's imminent danger coming (FF7's meteor, FF6's floating continent, Dragon Quest XI's meteor...) but you know what? Let's breed chocobos! Let's go to the casino! Let's fight ancient weapons with 2million HP! The end of the world is nigh, but we can sleep days at an inn in that town that we parked the airship next to, and nothing happens.
Steam: TheArcadeBear
I would not say that FF8 was linear at the end. Disk 4 was 'the final dungeon plus cutscenes'. I would say the 'end' of the game is when you get the Ragnarok and can fly around everywhere and finally explore the world fully.
I mean, none of these things really make sense. For all FFXIII was a rush, i sure spent hours exploring and leveling a zone when "OH noes PSI-COM" was right behind me. Must be extremely bad at pursuit if I can run away so slowly and all.
XBOne | LyrKing
S-E produced also gorgeous (excluding the bad streaming compression) "gameplay video" of a FFVII remake...four years ago, now?
And then more than a decade ago, they produced a gorgeous introductory sequence video for FFVII hinting at what it would look like on Playstation 3. Which, given how actual PS3 games generally looked, was probably bullshit, but you know, still gorgeous!
Square-Enix has been massively successful in the area of "Creative demonstrations of what the world of FFVII might look like on modern hardware."
And a few years before that:
Dona was the mean girl. The one you would keep fighting was...Bel...Belde...
*googles*
Belgemine.
Switch - SW-7373-3669-3011
Fuck Joe Manchin
It's hard to argue that FFXIII didn't more consistently convey "urgency" in a way I don't recall any game in the franchise doing so. Before that, you had X's "imminent arrival of Sin whatever the fuck that really means besides storm damage" and VII's somewhat more effective "Holy shit there's a gigantic meteor above Midgar, and the only other people who tried to shoot it down (Shinra) failed". But they're both doing so with a wink and assurances that there's time to breed a few more chocobos and dodge a few more lightning strikes.
It's not huge praise, but it's praise nonetheless.
By the way, mildly related. Ultimecia's Castle? Still the best Final Dungeon (tm) in FF. Skyfortress Bahamut? The Crystal Tower? bah I say! Kefka's Tower is a good runner up.
Also in regards to her. A detail about her boss battle that I didn't notice till it was pointed out in the english Ultimania book
Her final boss form? The weird faceless alien thing? It may be hard to see at first with the polygonal graphics but the greyish thing hanging underneath her torso? That's actually her OLD BODY, swinging around and bound up like a discarded husk. I wonder if Anima was inspired by it?
Four phases, random starting team, if someone's down for too long they are forever dead, replaced by the next random person. She can obliterate your GF shields and ruin your junctioned stats.
If you didnt kill all of her servants you might be missing certain commands.
If the game wasnt so easy to break she'd probably be regarded as the hardest final boss in any final fantasy. Maybe Cloud of Darkness.
Oh, yeah, the fight was really amazing. It's just that it feels a bit hollow due to her being off-stage for essentially the entire game. I mean, yeah, she was possessing Edea, but that was more or less just a really cliche and generic evil without depth. It would've been cool if we had more than just "Mwahahahaha Time Kompression!"
She wasn't off-stage, she's an active party member through most of the game.
Is this a R = U reference which the devs flat out said wasn't correct/intended?
Another group that was far more interesting than Squall's. Better combat music, too.
Considering that her plan was to basically destroy time to rule reality, we really should've gotten to see some more stuff from her before she actually appears. That's a pretty gnarly plan from a nasty boss to just keep tucked away the whole game.