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chuckroGiven that video game randomizers are the hot thing, I figured I'd try one that seemed particularly appealing. Final Fantasy 1, but the "good" version.
I did an abortive first run where Garland killed each of my characters in a single hit. That almost spoiled my interest right there, but I opted to give it a second shot.
In my second go, I discovered that there were several high-level, very expensive weapons for sale in Cornelia. (I eventually saved up and bought a Vorpal Sword for my fighter.) Nothing particularly exciting showed up in early chests. Garland wasn’t bad. Lizards and Scorpions on the way to Provoka would murder me, but Ogres were fine. The pirates battle was odd, because their entire attack script was using a paralyzing gaze over and over—it took ten minutes but I didn’t take a single point of damage.
Ogres showed up a lot on the seas and around Elfland and were an easy source of money. (The only place I saw inner sea monsters was on land near Matoya's Cave.) The Peninsula of Power was actually easier than usual—the Winter Wolves cast Fire and were weak to Thunder, which actually made them easier to deal with. Drakes were annoying, not because they were strong, but because they caused poison with their regular attack.
I was disappointed that none of the plot-related items are actually randomized. (The NES FF1 randomizer does rearrange them, but who wants to actually play that?) That meant that the game was basically the same as usual, just with a few surprises in battles and a weird equipment distribution.
Really, this isn't that different from playing vanilla, just a much less balanced experience—if you get lucky with early equips and don't get screwed on available spells, you can cruise right through; until you run into a randomly way overpowered random encounter and get pounded.
Overall: I suppose it adds challenge, but unless it can rearrange the order of events, I don't think it's worth playing through the entire game.
I did an abortive first run where Garland killed each of my characters in a single hit. That almost spoiled my interest right there, but I opted to give it a second shot.
In my second go, I discovered that there were several high-level, very expensive weapons for sale in Cornelia. (I eventually saved up and bought a Vorpal Sword for my fighter.) Nothing particularly exciting showed up in early chests. Garland wasn’t bad. Lizards and Scorpions on the way to Provoka would murder me, but Ogres were fine. The pirates battle was odd, because their entire attack script was using a paralyzing gaze over and over—it took ten minutes but I didn’t take a single point of damage.
Ogres showed up a lot on the seas and around Elfland and were an easy source of money. (The only place I saw inner sea monsters was on land near Matoya's Cave.) The Peninsula of Power was actually easier than usual—the Winter Wolves cast Fire and were weak to Thunder, which actually made them easier to deal with. Drakes were annoying, not because they were strong, but because they caused poison with their regular attack.
I was disappointed that none of the plot-related items are actually randomized. (The NES FF1 randomizer does rearrange them, but who wants to actually play that?) That meant that the game was basically the same as usual, just with a few surprises in battles and a weird equipment distribution.
Really, this isn't that different from playing vanilla, just a much less balanced experience—if you get lucky with early equips and don't get screwed on available spells, you can cruise right through; until you run into a randomly way overpowered random encounter and get pounded.
Overall: I suppose it adds challenge, but unless it can rearrange the order of events, I don't think it's worth playing through the entire game.
