Jon reviews Square-Enix’s latest ports of Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy VI, and Cody brings it all back together by reviewing mobile game Final Fantasy Record Keeper. Plus: Cody’s first impressions of Supergiant Games’ 2014 release, Transistor.
Show Notes:
- Jon gives a quick recap of the inner circles of hell from Dante’s “The Inferno”
- Cody explains the significance of the number 107 from his childhood
- Jon’s kid is still sick all the time always, because apparently kids can run ridiculous fevers and then be perfectly fine at random
- Jon had the most beautiful weekend he could basically ever remember in Minnesota, because Weather
- Cody recaps his birthday weekend, which was full of less fanfare than he’d anticipated, and also full of far more church than he’d anticipated
- Cody explains how he and his girlfriend kept themselves entertained during the longest Catholic Mass he has ever attended
- Cody started playing Transistor, but didn’t get very far because he’s busy selling things
- Transistor is the kind of game that makes you think about video games as art, according to Cody
- Cody explains the ability system in Transistor, which allows for a ridiculous amount of customization
- Jon insists that he’s going to play Transistor this weekend, after months of anticipation
- Cody explains the very deep storyline to Captain Toad’s Treasure Tracker
- Cody got a third-party Gamecube controller adapter so he can play Super Smash Bros for WiiU with a Gamecube controller, and he says it works great!
Minor complaint about how it would have been nice to have a story mode in the newest Smash Bros game, but it's still fun
[*]Jon gives an update on his progress in Final Fantasy IV, which he's playing on Steam, and Final Fantasy VI, which he's playing on his iPad
- Jon explains how he broke Final Fantasy IV using augments, primarily Counter and Kick
- Even with broken augments, the final dungeon of Final Fantasy IV is still stupidly hard... but the Bahamut Cave is not
[*]Jon explains the difference between "old school" classic NES and SNES JRPGs, especially the difference in the purpose of battles in the games
- It's hard to "enjoy" playing Final Fantasy IV from the standpoint of modern gaming, but it's still an amazing trip down memory lane and totally worth it for the feels
[*]Cody and Jon discuss Edge, the ninja who is no longer as horribly awful when he joins your party in the new version of the game
[*]Jon has a freakish memory when it comes to the exact number of hit points he had when he joined your party in the original game
[*]Jon discusses the new "art" "style" of Final Fantasy VI on the iPad, and why he is basically disgusted by the changes they made
- "It plays like an SNES-style RPG, but on an iPad."
- Jon doesn't understand why developers make stupid decisions when it comes to making joysticks appear in games on tablets and other touch-screen devices
- The controls in combat are super-intuitive, but on the main map...
[*]Jon is not pleased with the amount of time Square-Enix is investing into their game remakes, especially the Final Fantasy VI iPad app, which crashes constantly and basically ruins the entire experience for him
[*]Jon claims that Square-Enix's "golden" era was during the days of the original Sony Playstation, while Cody would argue that the SNES era perhaps holds the most nostalgia for him
[*]Cody has been playing mobile game Final Fantasy Record Keeper (Android, iOS), which is in every way better than the atrocity he reviewed in Episode #019: Dishonored, Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade, and Free-to-Play Games
[*]Cody explains how Final Fantasy Record Keeper does not play like a mobile game, but plays like a Final Fantasy game
- The game is divided up into "realms," represented by galleries of paintings, which you enter to play through historic moments from the Final Fantasy series
- Cody explains the battle system within each realm or chapter, how the combat system works, how parties and commands work
- The payment system partially relies on "stamina," which limits how much of the game you can play before having to wait to play more
- Enemies drop treasures, potions, or orbs, and Cody explains what they all do and how they tie into the ability and equipment creation and upgrade system
- Shards! Orbs! Mythril! Katanas! Learn about ALL THE THINGS
- Realms in the game currently limited, but supposedly they're adding more soon, so stay tuned
- Elite Dungeons, Daily Dungeons, and grinding, and why everything about all of these things is awesome
- Cody suddenly entices Jon by explaining the combat reward system, and incentives to win each battle as efficiently as possible in order to get a higher ranking to earn more rewards
- The game also rewards you for Final Fantasy knowledge, as Cody uses Cagnazzo's elemental weaknesses as an example
- Cody raves about the music and why it's awesome
- Cody explains why he hasn't spent money on the game's microtransactions... YET
[*]Jon announces that Hearthstone is now available for Android and iOS phones
- He also talks about the Humble Origin Bundle 2, which has some big-time titles for ridiculously cheap
[*]Cody plugs the latest episodes of fellow GonnaGeek Podcast Network shows: All Things Good And Nerdy Podcast 154 - That Sounds Like A Dirty Sexual Act and GonnaGeek.com Podcast Episode #090 - A Heated Podcast
[*]Cody plugs the Unqualified Gamers YouTube Channel and previews next week's episode