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Final Fantasy IV

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This game is the second old console Final Fantasy game redone for the Nintendo DS. Unlike Final Fantasy III which was not originally available in the states this game was released in a modified format back in the early nineties as Final Fantasy II (it being the second Final Fantasy game released in this country).

I had originally dug into this game on the 2005 Gameboy Advance version. The story was amazingly strong for such a small package and I was enjoying it immensely. Unfortunately about a third of the way through the game I got cocky and wound up blowing a couple hours worth of gaming by going into a dungeon my characters weren’t ready for. Even at the time I knew better and that I should save before going off the story’s rail, but with that big scoop of game having to be replayed I put the game down and waited to forget what it was that I was doing so that the adventure would be new again.

Fortunately the wait (of several years) paid off with this re-release that Kid Sandmich got me for Christmas. It features a snazzy opening much like the re-done Final Fantasy III and artwork that’s even a hair better than FF3. The most shocking improvement, however, was when the game hit a cutscene and instead of being subtitled with text it was a fully voiced in-engine cutscene, a first for me on the DS!

In this iteration they did away with the grating job system from ‘III’ and opted instead to integrate that system into the story with each character holding to a set job. This change added to the depth and eliminated the ‘double grind’ issue with other FF titles that are job based (having to grind up the character level as well as a job which will probably turn out to be a dead end). Another big improvement is a crude ‘auto’ system decreases the pain of grinding by allowing for a rough level of automation. In fact, on the final dungeon I was able to grind up my characters past level 80 without much effort (level 60 is the bare minimum needed to beat the game).

Almost more than any other Final Fantasy game that I’ve played, this game dishes out brutal punishment for those who haven’t explored every nook and cranny of the map. Skipping through the game and holding exclusively to the story will leave characters at too low of a level, and valuable goodies that make the game much more manageable will be left at the wayside (there were a few points where Kid Sandmich ran into trouble and I’d find out that he hadn’t been to the semi-secret dungeon of WhatzIt to acquire some secret weapon). However, the most grating aspect of this game is that towards the end magic became increasingly useless, making the game a by the books hack and slash. If you wanted a healing spell in a fight you’d have to start casting it early in the match because the long charge time meant that by the time you needed it you’d already be good as dead.

I love the effort put behind this title and it’s turned out very nice, but still, the original (GBA version) game was pretty good, so although it was an enjoyable improvement the developers didn’t have quite the hump to overcome in putting this game together as they did for Final Fantasy III to make it playable to modern audiences.

 

As an aside this will be the last retro FF game that I play before the release of Final Fantasy XIII early (hopefully) next year. I tried to play through ‘V’ but I determined early on that it was pretty much the same game as FFIII.

A Pallet Swap Too Far?

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Check out this picture from Getty Images:

Ahh the legend of the attractive woman in the data center. This picture gets a lot of play, for reasons I figure have to do with playing on tech nerd fantasies (with said tech nerds associating themselves with one of the guys in the back)*. However, the picture gets SO much play that it’s lost whatever effectiveness it may have once had. Here’s just the woman on the banner for one of Microsoft’s virtualization sites:

Here she is shilling something on CDW’s page:

IBM also used the photo with their Director product, but they pallet swapped the shirt to change it up:

And here’s the picture being used in a print ad for PC Connection where they pallet swapped…uh oh:

For reasons unknown to me they also sloppily threw on a dress shirt and tie on the guy in the back. I guess they figured he was disrepectin‘ da honies by wearing just that white shirt.

* Though to be fair, the pictures use may have more to do with price than anything. Use of the photo can be had for a couple bucks, while similar pictures (like this one)require negotiating a price for their commercial use.

Exchange Student Notes

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    • Our Exchange student starts school today and I’m hoping for the best. I’ve gotten the impression that she’s sick and tired of sitting around the house and would rather be anywhere else; if nothing else than to take her mind off of her home sickness.
    • I can now feel my brother-in-laws pain with his new daughter. How does a dad treat his daughter? If you’re like me, you treat your daughter like a different kind of son. For instance, a good boy gift might be some fancy bacon, and a good girl gift would be….maple flavored fancy bacon. I came to this realization when I was sitting through ‘Twilight’* with Mrs. Sandmich and ‘Sally’. They were both glued to the screen while I played ‘God of War’ in my head to try and escape the pain of the two hour long teen-angst-athon. I’d never think to get that movie for anyone I know, ever.
    • Mrs. Sandmich went clothes shopping with Sally a couple of times and after she related the experiences I’ve come to the conclusion (again) that American girls dress like whores. JCPenny, Macy’s, Walmart, it matters not. For instance, when I was in Walmart last night they sold girl skirts that looked like they were part of a Japanese stripper school girl Halloween costume.
    • Speaking of Walmart, they were packed last night with parents and kids buying school supplies for the school year that was to start in less than twelve hours.
    • Chinese exchange student food hits: Chicken, rice, Japanese BBQ sauce. Misses: Mexican, drinks other than water.
  • It’s been tough to reign in my normally un-PC self. We have a cat that meows pretty loud when he wants someone to check his food bowl, I affectionately would refer to him as our ‘Chinese opera puss cat’. As well, it’s now an American past time to refer to substandard household goods as ‘Chinese made crap’, I’ve had to catch myself a few times on that. I’ve also had to take it easier on the pet eating ‘jokes’.

It’s rough dropping her off for her first day of school, at a school that our own son doesn’t go to out of quality concerns. I’ve never cared so much about the quality of the local schools but in some ways it’s worse to be completely entrusted with the care of someone else’s child. Parents know the acceptable shortcuts with their own kids, but there’s some pressure to not let down her very trusting parents who I will never meet. If it makes them feel any better I share their concerns.

I should point out that when we were awaiting our student I was expecting some type A ass. This would be someone who got too big for their own country and had to go to a completely different country to find room for their ego, someone who we couldn’t stand to be around and vice versa. I couldn’t figure out how else a teenager could undergo such a trial. I went to a boarding school, but I could at least assuage myself with the fact that I’d see my family every six to eight weeks. However, in what I’ve found to be the best hypothesis, I couldn’t foresee a student from a well-to-do family who’s only ‘in’ for higher education for their child was a forced (in a career sense) sojourn to the U.S.**

In a magazine put out by a missionary organization that I occasionally keep track of, a priest said that teenagers are teenagers the world round. So it is with Sally. She’s just a normal,reserved, modest, and respectful teen stuck in extraordinary circumstances.

*Kid Sandmich ran out when the movie was being turned on saying that he “wasn’t going to watch any chick flick”. “Silly boy”, I thought “it has vampires in it, how can it be a chick flick?”. Needless to say, the joke was on me.

**Sally’s sister has undergone the same trial I take it (?), and her sister now attends the university of Arkansas.