13th April 2005, 9:40 PM
ABF is right, there are load times. They didn't do a good job in the ports of FFIV-VI. They did an AWESOME load time free job with FF1-2 though, but the portable version is... portable, so you know...
However, there is another thing. If you play FF6 on a PS2 and enable fast load times, the load times are reduced by a significant factor. Basically, the game becomes easily playable, and you no longer will have any reservations about accessing the menu :D. It's "good enough" basically, not perfect, but easily acceptable.
As for changes... They added 3 FMVs. There's one at the opening, one at the end, and a promo you can unlock in bonus mode (basically a compilation of scenes from the first two FMVs but done to the opera music from the game actually sung by an opera singer). They also added one gameplay feature. If you hold the cancel button (and they changed the controls for some stupid reason), you can dash even without sprint shoes. If you do equip sprint shoes, you will dash at 4x speed. Problem is, this does make the parts of the game involving a timer too easy. Since the loading scenes freeze the timer anyway, I'm really not sure why they bothered.
As for nongameplay changes, they changed the battle encounter visuals. Instead of the pixelization effect, there is a swish effect of the screen sort of splitting apart... The sound effect was changed a bit too. Also, the save screen looks very different. Hard to really describe, but basically it's designed to allow you to save to 15 or so slots and 2 memory cards.
As for the rest, the bonus mode includes a lot of game information. At first, it only includes a little stuff, but when you beat it, and only when you beat it, you can save a "bonus" file which unlocks everything. This includes a full list of trades at the colloseum (except in cases where the item is just to fight chupon over an elixer), a list of all strago's lores, a full beastiary that includes ALL the game data for all enemies EXCEPT for what item you can morph them into with Ragnarok, a list of all the espers in the game (including instructions on how to obtain them), and a theater that shows you the 3 FMVs whenever you want. Also, there's a special Status screen. When you unlock it, it basically shows the best and worst record stats for all the games you've played so far. Time taken, GP found, steps taken, and a percentage score on how well developed the characters are. The percentage score takes into account levels, spells learned, special moves learned, and stat boosting from espers. So, for Gogo and Umaro, who have no special moves to learn and can't equip espers, you can get 100% just by leveling them up to level 99. For others, it's tougher. Even after teaching all my other characters every spell in the game and getting them to 99, it wasn't enough. Teaching Sabin, Cyan,, Mog and Strago all their special moves adds to it as well. Gau is weird. His percentage was pretty frickin' high even after the first time I beat the PS1 version, with him having a VERY small number of rages, so I think his huge list of rages isn't factored into his percentage. Since I learned everything I could with everyone, stat boosting from espers must play a part in getting the others' levels up to 100%. So, the key is probably to keep each character at the starting level until I get the best esper for boosting the stat I want to boost, and then just keeping it on them to level 99, and then doing that, over and over again, until I get 100% for all characters. I have yet to do this, because while I'm obsessed, I do have at least SOME of a life.
Now for the flaws. Load times, I already mentioned. I also mentioned a way to more or less negate that. However, there is one thing about load times that'll bug you when you beat the game. You know during the ending, where they show all the characters and play their theme music? Well, the game loads each individual scene, rather than loading all the scenes at once before starting it all up, so what that means is that slowly, the music loses synch with the scenes. It really gets bad by the end, and by Strago's scene, near the middle, the music will have stopped completely (his music having been played for the previous character) and so you'll get to watch the rest in silence. Now, with fast loading, the problem actually reverses. Now the loading is actually too fast (for some reason they didn't set up the brakes on this like the SNES version has). You won't notice each scene coming in too fast, except the music actually starts being unable to keep up. By the end the book has closed before the music is done and it gets cut off as the next scene loads. I actually FORCED it to load correctly :D. I took the effort of paying very careful attention to the music and occasionally ejecting the disk and inserting it at key moments and managed to keep the music in synch through the whole thing (this only worked with fast loading, for obvious reasons). So basically, if for nothing else, this reason alone is why I play the SNES version when I just want to see the ending.
Another issue is the sound emulation. Yes, emulation. It's not exactly perfect. Some of the sound effects are off, and some of the musical instruments during the music are off too. Sometimes it's just different, not better or worse, but noticable. Sometimes, like during battle when some sound effects are screwed up, it is just plain worse.
Finally, there's slowdown. Because they didn't truly port it and just emulated it on PS1 hardware, the system slows down during battle. Soimetimes it also does it when you are in a bustling town with LOTS of characters on the screen at once, but the norm is that it's almost always during battles. Basically, the really flashy stuff, the stuff that involves large sprites or lots of sprites or special effects done to sprites, gets all slow. So, for example, casting Cure 3 on the entire party causes slowdown when the curaga animation appears over a 3rd character's head.
That said, it's not all THAT bad, but it is worse than the SNES version in this way.
Now for one last bit of something, translation. They mostly just kept the original SNES translation, but they did take the time to correct some stuff. For example, they turned Vicks into Biggs again, just like in the Japanese. Also, the intro scene with the thundering clouds and the Final Fantasy 6 logo appearing in flames now says Final Fantasy 6 instead of Final Fantasy 3. One other thing they removed from the US version, who knows why, is an awesome flaming image of Terra in magiteck armor imposed in the background behind the title, more or less between the words "Final" and "Fantasy". Think in the same way later Final Fantasies did their titles, and in the same art style. They also reverted all the artwork that was censored in the original translation back to the original Japanese. Namely, really minor nudity and enemies that *gasp* are SMOKING. NOA really didn't have what one might call good priorities back then... That villager still says the characters at the top of your keyboard instead of a curse word though. They didn't change the spell "Pearl" back to "Holy" or one of Cyan's swords (the Aura) back to the Masamune though... They also changed the character "Kappa" into "Imp". They actually would have been better off just changing the imp spell and all imp references in the game to kappa, but at least that was for continuity if nothing else. Last, as far as I can remember anyway, they changed Relm's Memento Ring into the Safety Ring. Honestly, I MUCH prefer the original name, even if Safety Ring was the original Japanese word for it. Also, the font is somehow different so some text boxes are filled a little awkwardly and scroll to another text box for a single word unlike the SNES version, though for the most part the text fits in just like the original.
All in all, since you get data you can learn in guides (though in the case of the game, at least here you know it's 100% accurate, except for the hints on how to get the espers), and just a couple minor translation fixes (really minor, just single words), and the game itself has some emulation issues and load times, the only reason to get it, at all, is the FMVs (or maybe the chance for extra save slots). I can actually see those FMVs on the disks when I put them in my PC. If you know of any special fan made players that can play back common formats of PS1 movie files, I could send them to you to look at, since I really don't think it's all that big a deal.
As it stands, I probably wouldn't even have the PS1 version except that it came bundled with Final Fantasy V, and since that's the ONLY (legal) way to get an english version of the game, and I had heard some good things, I got it. It was cheap, and getting FF6 was really more of an added bonus than the reason I got it. That said, while FF5 did turn out to be pretty fun, I've actually played the PS1 version of FF6 more than it :D. Also, I wouldn't have the PS1 version of Chrono Trigger if it wasn't for the fact that it came bundled with a fully restored and fully retranslated version of FF4 (and also I never got the SNES version of FF4). FF4 was different though, because they actually took the time to give that game flawless load times. Still some issues, but very small compaired to FF6, and it is overall a better game than the original SNES version...
Back on topic, yeah, the only reason to get FF6 for PS1 is that you get FF5 with it. I'd just keep the SNES version and print out a custom sticker with a lovely FF6 logo to paste over the old sticker. And, as for the FMVs, I could send the files to you, though I really don't know if you'll be able to watch them unless you have something I don't. (For that matter I could send you the really well done FMVs added to the PS1 version of Chrono Trigger if you want, and the other two Final Fantasies, heck probably origins if I can see the files).
However, there is another thing. If you play FF6 on a PS2 and enable fast load times, the load times are reduced by a significant factor. Basically, the game becomes easily playable, and you no longer will have any reservations about accessing the menu :D. It's "good enough" basically, not perfect, but easily acceptable.
As for changes... They added 3 FMVs. There's one at the opening, one at the end, and a promo you can unlock in bonus mode (basically a compilation of scenes from the first two FMVs but done to the opera music from the game actually sung by an opera singer). They also added one gameplay feature. If you hold the cancel button (and they changed the controls for some stupid reason), you can dash even without sprint shoes. If you do equip sprint shoes, you will dash at 4x speed. Problem is, this does make the parts of the game involving a timer too easy. Since the loading scenes freeze the timer anyway, I'm really not sure why they bothered.
As for nongameplay changes, they changed the battle encounter visuals. Instead of the pixelization effect, there is a swish effect of the screen sort of splitting apart... The sound effect was changed a bit too. Also, the save screen looks very different. Hard to really describe, but basically it's designed to allow you to save to 15 or so slots and 2 memory cards.
As for the rest, the bonus mode includes a lot of game information. At first, it only includes a little stuff, but when you beat it, and only when you beat it, you can save a "bonus" file which unlocks everything. This includes a full list of trades at the colloseum (except in cases where the item is just to fight chupon over an elixer), a list of all strago's lores, a full beastiary that includes ALL the game data for all enemies EXCEPT for what item you can morph them into with Ragnarok, a list of all the espers in the game (including instructions on how to obtain them), and a theater that shows you the 3 FMVs whenever you want. Also, there's a special Status screen. When you unlock it, it basically shows the best and worst record stats for all the games you've played so far. Time taken, GP found, steps taken, and a percentage score on how well developed the characters are. The percentage score takes into account levels, spells learned, special moves learned, and stat boosting from espers. So, for Gogo and Umaro, who have no special moves to learn and can't equip espers, you can get 100% just by leveling them up to level 99. For others, it's tougher. Even after teaching all my other characters every spell in the game and getting them to 99, it wasn't enough. Teaching Sabin, Cyan,, Mog and Strago all their special moves adds to it as well. Gau is weird. His percentage was pretty frickin' high even after the first time I beat the PS1 version, with him having a VERY small number of rages, so I think his huge list of rages isn't factored into his percentage. Since I learned everything I could with everyone, stat boosting from espers must play a part in getting the others' levels up to 100%. So, the key is probably to keep each character at the starting level until I get the best esper for boosting the stat I want to boost, and then just keeping it on them to level 99, and then doing that, over and over again, until I get 100% for all characters. I have yet to do this, because while I'm obsessed, I do have at least SOME of a life.
Now for the flaws. Load times, I already mentioned. I also mentioned a way to more or less negate that. However, there is one thing about load times that'll bug you when you beat the game. You know during the ending, where they show all the characters and play their theme music? Well, the game loads each individual scene, rather than loading all the scenes at once before starting it all up, so what that means is that slowly, the music loses synch with the scenes. It really gets bad by the end, and by Strago's scene, near the middle, the music will have stopped completely (his music having been played for the previous character) and so you'll get to watch the rest in silence. Now, with fast loading, the problem actually reverses. Now the loading is actually too fast (for some reason they didn't set up the brakes on this like the SNES version has). You won't notice each scene coming in too fast, except the music actually starts being unable to keep up. By the end the book has closed before the music is done and it gets cut off as the next scene loads. I actually FORCED it to load correctly :D. I took the effort of paying very careful attention to the music and occasionally ejecting the disk and inserting it at key moments and managed to keep the music in synch through the whole thing (this only worked with fast loading, for obvious reasons). So basically, if for nothing else, this reason alone is why I play the SNES version when I just want to see the ending.
Another issue is the sound emulation. Yes, emulation. It's not exactly perfect. Some of the sound effects are off, and some of the musical instruments during the music are off too. Sometimes it's just different, not better or worse, but noticable. Sometimes, like during battle when some sound effects are screwed up, it is just plain worse.
Finally, there's slowdown. Because they didn't truly port it and just emulated it on PS1 hardware, the system slows down during battle. Soimetimes it also does it when you are in a bustling town with LOTS of characters on the screen at once, but the norm is that it's almost always during battles. Basically, the really flashy stuff, the stuff that involves large sprites or lots of sprites or special effects done to sprites, gets all slow. So, for example, casting Cure 3 on the entire party causes slowdown when the curaga animation appears over a 3rd character's head.
That said, it's not all THAT bad, but it is worse than the SNES version in this way.
Now for one last bit of something, translation. They mostly just kept the original SNES translation, but they did take the time to correct some stuff. For example, they turned Vicks into Biggs again, just like in the Japanese. Also, the intro scene with the thundering clouds and the Final Fantasy 6 logo appearing in flames now says Final Fantasy 6 instead of Final Fantasy 3. One other thing they removed from the US version, who knows why, is an awesome flaming image of Terra in magiteck armor imposed in the background behind the title, more or less between the words "Final" and "Fantasy". Think in the same way later Final Fantasies did their titles, and in the same art style. They also reverted all the artwork that was censored in the original translation back to the original Japanese. Namely, really minor nudity and enemies that *gasp* are SMOKING. NOA really didn't have what one might call good priorities back then... That villager still says the characters at the top of your keyboard instead of a curse word though. They didn't change the spell "Pearl" back to "Holy" or one of Cyan's swords (the Aura) back to the Masamune though... They also changed the character "Kappa" into "Imp". They actually would have been better off just changing the imp spell and all imp references in the game to kappa, but at least that was for continuity if nothing else. Last, as far as I can remember anyway, they changed Relm's Memento Ring into the Safety Ring. Honestly, I MUCH prefer the original name, even if Safety Ring was the original Japanese word for it. Also, the font is somehow different so some text boxes are filled a little awkwardly and scroll to another text box for a single word unlike the SNES version, though for the most part the text fits in just like the original.
All in all, since you get data you can learn in guides (though in the case of the game, at least here you know it's 100% accurate, except for the hints on how to get the espers), and just a couple minor translation fixes (really minor, just single words), and the game itself has some emulation issues and load times, the only reason to get it, at all, is the FMVs (or maybe the chance for extra save slots). I can actually see those FMVs on the disks when I put them in my PC. If you know of any special fan made players that can play back common formats of PS1 movie files, I could send them to you to look at, since I really don't think it's all that big a deal.
As it stands, I probably wouldn't even have the PS1 version except that it came bundled with Final Fantasy V, and since that's the ONLY (legal) way to get an english version of the game, and I had heard some good things, I got it. It was cheap, and getting FF6 was really more of an added bonus than the reason I got it. That said, while FF5 did turn out to be pretty fun, I've actually played the PS1 version of FF6 more than it :D. Also, I wouldn't have the PS1 version of Chrono Trigger if it wasn't for the fact that it came bundled with a fully restored and fully retranslated version of FF4 (and also I never got the SNES version of FF4). FF4 was different though, because they actually took the time to give that game flawless load times. Still some issues, but very small compaired to FF6, and it is overall a better game than the original SNES version...
Back on topic, yeah, the only reason to get FF6 for PS1 is that you get FF5 with it. I'd just keep the SNES version and print out a custom sticker with a lovely FF6 logo to paste over the old sticker. And, as for the FMVs, I could send the files to you, though I really don't know if you'll be able to watch them unless you have something I don't. (For that matter I could send you the really well done FMVs added to the PS1 version of Chrono Trigger if you want, and the other two Final Fantasies, heck probably origins if I can see the files).
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)