I wonder if VIII would have been less confusing if "Junction" had been replaced with "Equip".
"Equip a Guardian Force to a character. Then, its skills will allow you to equip magic to boost that character's stats."
Well, FFVIII is the one FF that only had 1 equip slot (the weapon).... so i can see the equip keywords being used instead of junction. THEN AGAIN, I like junction as a keyword.
That seems a bit patronizing to people who didn't like FFVIII's character build mechanics.
A lot of those people didn't like it because they didn't realize that the best way to optimize your characters wasn't to spend hours not actually playing the game, it was to spend hours not actually playing the game in an entirely different way.
I'm doubting the devs understood the ramifications of FFVIII's systems, at least in combination with each other.
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H3KnucklesBut we decide which is rightand which is an illusion.Registered Userregular
edited May 2022
Just to be clear, I'm not offended. I'm just saying it comes off poorly.
I know I didn't care for the draw/gf/junction system at the time (I preferred both VII's materia system & Tactics' job system), but I don't think I have played FFVIII since the year it came out, so I can't really hold a strong opinion on it because I've largely forgotten what all it entailed.
Edit: quick look at wikipedia says it came out in North America in September, so I might've still been playing it the following year.
I mean I'll be honest, my first playthrough I was young, I was bad at games, and I didn't get the Junction system at all lol
The only diff between me in my first playthrough attempt and me at my last one for FFVIII is that i knew to get 100 of every spell. the battle system itself is slower on the enemy side to facilitate getting draws.
I'm doubting the devs understood the ramifications of FFVIII's systems, at least in combination with each other.
I seriously doubt that.
Things have to be really obscure for me to believe that the devs didn't know about them. Being able to refine cards into items into awesome spells into massive stat boosts and so on isn't hard to figure out, especially for playtesters who'd be playing that game literally all the time.
Like, no dev anywhere would present the idea that giving the player 100 uses of total invincibility would be perfectly balanced.
They made it so the player who doesn't really know the ins and outs of the system could play through, drawing magic as they find it, levelling up with battles the whole way, and just using the auto junctioning options could beat the game without tearing their hair out. By necessity, this means that a player who does know that stuff well could snap the game in two.
Nobody remembers the singer. The song remains.
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DemonStaceyTTODewback's DaughterIn love with the TaySwayRegistered Userregular
edited May 2022
Finally playing strangers of paradise.
As goofy as I could have hoped.
Gameplay is a back and forth of fun and disappointing though.
I feel like they attached too much to the break bar. Breaking stance is already a punishment. Losing MP feels so bad. Especially in a boss where there's no way to get it back unless on very specific classes. Losing all your buffs just feels insulting Especially with the prior punishment.
Especially since late game any boss can break me in 1 hit if not blocking. It feels like it just kinda keeps you from doing all the fun stuff?
And also since not enough carries over between jobs once you have some maxed jobs it feels like you arent really getting much reward for combat.
It feels so strange that all those weapon ability modifiers don't carry over. There's so many slots for them but all you will ever have is the one or two that match your weapon and current job.
Overall I say the game is still a 3/5. But my enjoyment went from a potential 4/5 down to matching the 3/5.
Losing MP feels so bad. Especially in a boss where there's no way to get it back unless on very specific classes.
You can always recover max MP, every class can Soul Shield attacks.
Ok so this may partly be me to blame. Can any attack be soul shielded? I thought it was only like spells an enemy casts and I don't have the capability to read an attack and react with a specific button press like that so I haven't used that ability all game lol
Edit: Omg I'm an idiot.you can soul shield regular attacks. I'll have to reassess next time I play hahah. Thank you Bill!
Losing MP feels so bad. Especially in a boss where there's no way to get it back unless on very specific classes.
You can always recover max MP, every class can Soul Shield attacks.
Ok so this may partly be me to blame. Can any attack be soul shielded? I thought it was only like spells an enemy casts and I don't have the capability to read an attack and react with a specific button press like that so I haven't used that ability all game lol
Edit: Omg I'm an idiot.you can soul shield regular attacks. I'll have to reassess next time I play hahah. Thank you Bill!
Yea. That's kinda key to the game. I think you'll find it much more enjoyable now.
League of Legends: Sorakanmyworld
FFXIV: Tchel Fay
Nintendo ID: Tortalius
Steam: Tortalius
Stream: twitch.tv/tortalius
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DemonStaceyTTODewback's DaughterIn love with the TaySwayRegistered Userregular
Losing MP feels so bad. Especially in a boss where there's no way to get it back unless on very specific classes.
You can always recover max MP, every class can Soul Shield attacks.
Ok so this may partly be me to blame. Can any attack be soul shielded? I thought it was only like spells an enemy casts and I don't have the capability to read an attack and react with a specific button press like that so I haven't used that ability all game lol
Edit: Omg I'm an idiot.you can soul shield regular attacks. I'll have to reassess next time I play hahah. Thank you Bill!
Yea. That's kinda key to the game. I think you'll find it much more enjoyable now.
Yea. Always nice to find out you are just wrong about something in a situation like this haha. Certainly wish I had posted earlier to learn this sooner. But hey, better late than never!
Also I feel like this means I really should switch over to a great sword instead of sword and shield. If im using the soul shield i imagine regular blocking is much less useful, yea?
Losing MP feels so bad. Especially in a boss where there's no way to get it back unless on very specific classes.
You can always recover max MP, every class can Soul Shield attacks.
Ok so this may partly be me to blame. Can any attack be soul shielded? I thought it was only like spells an enemy casts and I don't have the capability to read an attack and react with a specific button press like that so I haven't used that ability all game lol
Edit: Omg I'm an idiot.you can soul shield regular attacks. I'll have to reassess next time I play hahah. Thank you Bill!
Yea. That's kinda key to the game. I think you'll find it much more enjoyable now.
Yea. Always nice to find out you are just wrong about something in a situation like this haha. Certainly wish I had posted earlier to learn this sooner. But hey, better late than never!
Also I feel like this means I really should switch over to a great sword instead of sword and shield. If im using the soul shield i imagine regular blocking is much less useful, yea?
any attack that is not accompanied with a red aura/name can be soul shielded / blocked... if it's red you have to dodge. unless you're playing on Story difficulty or something then probably.
the usage depends on the attack. blocking into soul shielding can prevent a break/consume less. soul shielding won't end all combo chains so you burn a lot of gauge depending on how many times you do it. purple attacks you can "steal" a stock of, but they're not really that useful imo. or if they are the boss will just be spamming it anyway (everyone's grudge) and it's like... yeah.
edit: should also note that the bosses kind of have that mega-man feeling to it where if you're using one class while you can still win, it will be significantly easier with another class more suited to countering whatever the boss does.
edit2: also, both your equipped classes have their own break gauges, so you can burn most of your active bar, and swap to give that break gauge a chance to recover, etc.
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DemonStaceyTTODewback's DaughterIn love with the TaySwayRegistered Userregular
Since I've already played so long just using regular block and dodging red attacks I think I may actually just rebind L1 to soul shield.
Man I bet this is going to make Holy Fang feel so much better.
Oh gods and actually using light bringer especially the upgraded paladin form... since I can actually get back MP in a boss fight.
Since I've already played so long just using regular block and dodging red attacks I think I may actually just rebind L1 to soul shield.
Man I bet this is going to make Holy Fang feel so much better.
Oh gods and actually using light bringer especially the upgraded paladin form... since I can actually get back MP in a boss fight.
I am such a fool this is pretty funny.
Regular blocking has a much smaller penalty for poor timing (since your break gauge isn't depleting as fast), and you can regular block at a lower break gauge cost (which helps if you're just holding down block), and regular blocks get the break gauge buff if you parry an enemy attack with a regular block (block with perfect timing will make the break gauge restore at super increased speed for a short time). Really you want to use both.
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League of Legends: Sorakanmyworld
FFXIV: Tchel Fay
Nintendo ID: Tortalius
Steam: Tortalius
Stream: twitch.tv/tortalius
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DemonStaceyTTODewback's DaughterIn love with the TaySwayRegistered Userregular
Since I've already played so long just using regular block and dodging red attacks I think I may actually just rebind L1 to soul shield.
Man I bet this is going to make Holy Fang feel so much better.
Oh gods and actually using light bringer especially the upgraded paladin form... since I can actually get back MP in a boss fight.
I am such a fool this is pretty funny.
Regular blocking has a much smaller penalty for poor timing (since your break gauge isn't depleting as fast), and you can regular block at a lower break gauge cost (which helps if you're just holding down block), and regular blocks get the break gauge buff if you parry an enemy attack with a regular block (block with perfect timing will make the break gauge restore at super increased speed for a short time). Really you want to use both.
I don't/ can't parry.
And for the same reason I don't parry switching back and forth between the two kinds of block is going to lead to way more failures to the point of not being worth it haha.
Thats just far too many things to consider and decide in way too short of a time for me.
As is block AND dodge is already pushing it for me. Theres a reason I dont use shields in souls games. I'm more of a panic reaction kinda person than a read attacks and make decisions kind of person lol.
Since I've already played so long just using regular block and dodging red attacks I think I may actually just rebind L1 to soul shield.
Man I bet this is going to make Holy Fang feel so much better.
Oh gods and actually using light bringer especially the upgraded paladin form... since I can actually get back MP in a boss fight.
I am such a fool this is pretty funny.
Regular blocking has a much smaller penalty for poor timing (since your break gauge isn't depleting as fast), and you can regular block at a lower break gauge cost (which helps if you're just holding down block), and regular blocks get the break gauge buff if you parry an enemy attack with a regular block (block with perfect timing will make the break gauge restore at super increased speed for a short time). Really you want to use both.
I don't/ can't parry.
And for the same reason I don't parry switching back and forth between the two kinds of block is going to lead to way more failures to the point of not being worth it haha.
Thats just far too many things to consider and decide in way too short of a time for me.
As is block AND dodge is already pushing it for me. Theres a reason I dont use shields in souls games. I'm more of a panic reaction kinda person than a read attacks and make decisions kind of person lol.
the other advantage to soul shielding is that if you time it right you'll never run out of break gauge, since as long as you just tap the button and time it right, the game won't break you. That of course means you have to continuously tap it with Sekiro parrying timing to avoid being broken, but you can do it, and against barrages of projectiles or such, you can usually get a solid timing down.
League of Legends: Sorakanmyworld
FFXIV: Tchel Fay
Nintendo ID: Tortalius
Steam: Tortalius
Stream: twitch.tv/tortalius
Since I've already played so long just using regular block and dodging red attacks I think I may actually just rebind L1 to soul shield.
Man I bet this is going to make Holy Fang feel so much better.
Oh gods and actually using light bringer especially the upgraded paladin form... since I can actually get back MP in a boss fight.
I am such a fool this is pretty funny.
Regular blocking has a much smaller penalty for poor timing (since your break gauge isn't depleting as fast), and you can regular block at a lower break gauge cost (which helps if you're just holding down block), and regular blocks get the break gauge buff if you parry an enemy attack with a regular block (block with perfect timing will make the break gauge restore at super increased speed for a short time). Really you want to use both.
I don't/ can't parry.
And for the same reason I don't parry switching back and forth between the two kinds of block is going to lead to way more failures to the point of not being worth it haha.
Thats just far too many things to consider and decide in way too short of a time for me.
As is block AND dodge is already pushing it for me. Theres a reason I dont use shields in souls games. I'm more of a panic reaction kinda person than a read attacks and make decisions kind of person lol.
the other advantage to soul shielding is that if you time it right you'll never run out of break gauge, since as long as you just tap the button and time it right, the game won't break you. That of course means you have to continuously tap it with Sekiro parrying timing to avoid being broken, but you can do it, and against barrages of projectiles or such, you can usually get a solid timing down.
So uh, the thing about Sekiro parrying timing is that once you get the perfect parry against a combo of hits... the game just gives you the rest for free. As long as you're stuck in block animation it's automatically a perfect parry after that. Some enemies delay the final hit of a combo to where you need to parry a second time there, but there's no need to mash out parries if you nail the first one.
Expect an FF16 release date soon I guess! Maybe as soon as this summer?? Feels pretty surreal, a mainline Final Fantasy having this kind of smooth, quick turnaround. Unless they've been secretly working on this since just after Heavensward in 2016 or so?
Expect an FF16 release date soon I guess! Maybe as soon as this summer?? Feels pretty surreal, a mainline Final Fantasy having this kind of smooth, quick turnaround. Unless they've been secretly working on this since just after Heavensward in 2016 or so?
Even if they have, that feels like a quick turnaround for an FF title.
Apparently they started working on FF16 before FF15 was released because it was taking so long, so that's why it might feel like a short amount of time has passed.
Expect an FF16 release date soon I guess! Maybe as soon as this summer?? Feels pretty surreal, a mainline Final Fantasy having this kind of smooth, quick turnaround. Unless they've been secretly working on this since just after Heavensward in 2016 or so?
Even if they have, that feels like a quick turnaround for an FF title.
Yeah... I'd been expecting it to be like, late next year or so. If they started in 2016 then this year is plausible, that's plenty of time if the project isnt in dev hell...
Apparently they started working on FF16 before FF15 was released because it was taking so long, so that's why it might feel like a short amount of time has passed.
Ok they were just quiet about it until it was coming together, that makes more sense.
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DemonStaceyTTODewback's DaughterIn love with the TaySwayRegistered Userregular
Apparently they started working on FF16 before FF15 was released because it was taking so long, so that's why it might feel like a short amount of time has passed.
Ok they were just quiet about it until it was coming together, that makes more sense.
Either which way i much appreciate this approach.
I don't even mind if its early 2023 given how packed this fall is.
But that said I'd gladly bump literally any other game off my schedule to make room for playing this at launch haha.
Apparently they started working on FF16 before FF15 was released because it was taking so long, so that's why it might feel like a short amount of time has passed.
Ok they were just quiet about it until it was coming together, that makes more sense.
Either which way i much appreciate this approach.
I don't even mind if its early 2023 given how packed this fall is.
But that said I'd gladly bump literally any other game off my schedule to make room for playing this at launch haha.
At launch is going to depend on what stupid exclusivity stuff is involved, isn't it?
Apparently they started working on FF16 before FF15 was released because it was taking so long, so that's why it might feel like a short amount of time has passed.
So then they just need to start work on FF17 now, before FF16 releases, and keep up the good pace!
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Shutupshutupshutupshutup
Very tragic.
Check out my site, the Bismuth Heart | My Twitter
"Equip a Guardian Force to a character. Then, its skills will allow you to equip magic to boost that character's stats."
Well, FFVIII is the one FF that only had 1 equip slot (the weapon).... so i can see the equip keywords being used instead of junction. THEN AGAIN, I like junction as a keyword.
Check out my site, the Bismuth Heart | My Twitter
Well I mean considering they were perfect you only have yourself to blame, alas
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A lot of those people didn't like it because they didn't realize that the best way to optimize your characters wasn't to spend hours not actually playing the game, it was to spend hours not actually playing the game in an entirely different way.
3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
Steam profile
I know I didn't care for the draw/gf/junction system at the time (I preferred both VII's materia system & Tactics' job system), but I don't think I have played FFVIII since the year it came out, so I can't really hold a strong opinion on it because I've largely forgotten what all it entailed.
Edit: quick look at wikipedia says it came out in North America in September, so I might've still been playing it the following year.
The only diff between me in my first playthrough attempt and me at my last one for FFVIII is that i knew to get 100 of every spell. the battle system itself is slower on the enemy side to facilitate getting draws.
Check out my site, the Bismuth Heart | My Twitter
Things have to be really obscure for me to believe that the devs didn't know about them. Being able to refine cards into items into awesome spells into massive stat boosts and so on isn't hard to figure out, especially for playtesters who'd be playing that game literally all the time.
Like, no dev anywhere would present the idea that giving the player 100 uses of total invincibility would be perfectly balanced.
They made it so the player who doesn't really know the ins and outs of the system could play through, drawing magic as they find it, levelling up with battles the whole way, and just using the auto junctioning options could beat the game without tearing their hair out. By necessity, this means that a player who does know that stuff well could snap the game in two.
As goofy as I could have hoped.
Gameplay is a back and forth of fun and disappointing though.
I feel like they attached too much to the break bar. Breaking stance is already a punishment. Losing MP feels so bad. Especially in a boss where there's no way to get it back unless on very specific classes. Losing all your buffs just feels insulting Especially with the prior punishment.
Especially since late game any boss can break me in 1 hit if not blocking. It feels like it just kinda keeps you from doing all the fun stuff?
And also since not enough carries over between jobs once you have some maxed jobs it feels like you arent really getting much reward for combat.
It feels so strange that all those weapon ability modifiers don't carry over. There's so many slots for them but all you will ever have is the one or two that match your weapon and current job.
Overall I say the game is still a 3/5. But my enjoyment went from a potential 4/5 down to matching the 3/5.
You can always recover max MP, every class can Soul Shield attacks.
Ok so this may partly be me to blame. Can any attack be soul shielded? I thought it was only like spells an enemy casts and I don't have the capability to read an attack and react with a specific button press like that so I haven't used that ability all game lol
Edit: Omg I'm an idiot.you can soul shield regular attacks. I'll have to reassess next time I play hahah. Thank you Bill!
Yea. That's kinda key to the game. I think you'll find it much more enjoyable now.
FFXIV: Tchel Fay
Nintendo ID: Tortalius
Steam: Tortalius
Stream: twitch.tv/tortalius
Yea. Always nice to find out you are just wrong about something in a situation like this haha. Certainly wish I had posted earlier to learn this sooner. But hey, better late than never!
Also I feel like this means I really should switch over to a great sword instead of sword and shield. If im using the soul shield i imagine regular blocking is much less useful, yea?
It's pretty fun to play, plus the attitude, aesthetic and sense of general what-the-fuckery is really scratching that XIII itch
any attack that is not accompanied with a red aura/name can be soul shielded / blocked... if it's red you have to dodge. unless you're playing on Story difficulty or something then probably.
the usage depends on the attack. blocking into soul shielding can prevent a break/consume less. soul shielding won't end all combo chains so you burn a lot of gauge depending on how many times you do it. purple attacks you can "steal" a stock of, but they're not really that useful imo. or if they are the boss will just be spamming it anyway (everyone's grudge) and it's like... yeah.
edit: should also note that the bosses kind of have that mega-man feeling to it where if you're using one class while you can still win, it will be significantly easier with another class more suited to countering whatever the boss does.
edit2: also, both your equipped classes have their own break gauges, so you can burn most of your active bar, and swap to give that break gauge a chance to recover, etc.
Man I bet this is going to make Holy Fang feel so much better.
Oh gods and actually using light bringer especially the upgraded paladin form... since I can actually get back MP in a boss fight.
I am such a fool this is pretty funny.
Regular blocking has a much smaller penalty for poor timing (since your break gauge isn't depleting as fast), and you can regular block at a lower break gauge cost (which helps if you're just holding down block), and regular blocks get the break gauge buff if you parry an enemy attack with a regular block (block with perfect timing will make the break gauge restore at super increased speed for a short time). Really you want to use both.
FFXIV: Tchel Fay
Nintendo ID: Tortalius
Steam: Tortalius
Stream: twitch.tv/tortalius
I don't/ can't parry.
And for the same reason I don't parry switching back and forth between the two kinds of block is going to lead to way more failures to the point of not being worth it haha.
Thats just far too many things to consider and decide in way too short of a time for me.
As is block AND dodge is already pushing it for me. Theres a reason I dont use shields in souls games. I'm more of a panic reaction kinda person than a read attacks and make decisions kind of person lol.
the other advantage to soul shielding is that if you time it right you'll never run out of break gauge, since as long as you just tap the button and time it right, the game won't break you. That of course means you have to continuously tap it with Sekiro parrying timing to avoid being broken, but you can do it, and against barrages of projectiles or such, you can usually get a solid timing down.
FFXIV: Tchel Fay
Nintendo ID: Tortalius
Steam: Tortalius
Stream: twitch.tv/tortalius
So uh, the thing about Sekiro parrying timing is that once you get the perfect parry against a combo of hits... the game just gives you the rest for free. As long as you're stuck in block animation it's automatically a perfect parry after that. Some enemies delay the final hit of a combo to where you need to parry a second time there, but there's no need to mash out parries if you nail the first one.
3DS: 0473-8507-2652
Switch: SW-5185-4991-5118
PSN: AbEntropy
But it does sound like ill be able to get by replacing block with soul shield.
Still have some qualms overall but this is much more in line with how things should be.
Thanks all!
Expect an FF16 release date soon I guess! Maybe as soon as this summer?? Feels pretty surreal, a mainline Final Fantasy having this kind of smooth, quick turnaround. Unless they've been secretly working on this since just after Heavensward in 2016 or so?
Yeah... I'd been expecting it to be like, late next year or so. If they started in 2016 then this year is plausible, that's plenty of time if the project isnt in dev hell...
3DS: 0473-8507-2652
Switch: SW-5185-4991-5118
PSN: AbEntropy
Ok they were just quiet about it until it was coming together, that makes more sense.
Either which way i much appreciate this approach.
I don't even mind if its early 2023 given how packed this fall is.
But that said I'd gladly bump literally any other game off my schedule to make room for playing this at launch haha.
At launch is going to depend on what stupid exclusivity stuff is involved, isn't it?
3DS: 0473-8507-2652
Switch: SW-5185-4991-5118
PSN: AbEntropy
3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
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So then they just need to start work on FF17 now, before FF16 releases, and keep up the good pace!