I've never really seen anything about this game before playing. I've done this exact thing for FFX, FFIX and FFX-2, making this my fourth Final Fantasy game. Expect lots of words in a stream of consciousness style of narration as I go through. If this annoys you, block me now because it isn't gonna get any better.
There's a TL;DR at the end if you aren't reading allat.
Firstly, sorry for in advance for any spelling mistakes. All of the names of people and places in this game are so egregious that I ended up turning spell checker off since all of the red lines were annoying me lmao.
I'm playing the Ivalice Chronicles, the newer enhanced version. I wasn't sure which version to go with, but I paid for the remaster so I may as well check it out.
Now why in the HELL could the game POSSIBLY need my birthday? It's not often that I start a game and am immediately confused without even having seen an opening cutscene but, sure, fuck it, there you go.
Here we go!
I kinda have PTSD from games presenting their story as a narration from an someone, having come from X. It's narrated in 2nd person, with someone talking to us - Arazlam J.D.
New Maechen?????
Someone called Delita is regarded as a hero, but some people think someone called Ramza Beoulve, the youngest son of House Beoulve, was the actual hero according to the archived Durai Papers, even though the church regards him as a heretic.
OK ok let's slow down please, the game really launches you into it lmao. I'm glad I'm writing all of this down, since I would DEFINITELY forget all of this immediately.
Yo we got soldiers on CHOCOBOS? That's fucking sick, sign me up! They're racing through the forest, heading towards what looks like a church, swords drown and quivers held tight.
ORBONNE MONASTERY:
Meanwhile, someone inside the church is praying...
The artstyle is absolutely incredible, it's genuinely gorgeous. Perhaps this is recency bias, but it's the best-looking FF game I've played so far. I'm sure that comes with being a remaster, though. Everything is isometric but with realistic lighting, with golden light pouring into the church from the windows. The character designs are more akin to FF9 than 10, although don't really resemble either.
The music is also really good, it's sufficiently intense and pulse-pounding, and it complements the tone of the scene.
So yeah we have full voice-acting this time (and not the admittedly kinda corny voice-acting you'd find in an early 2000's game like X). It sounds really good.
What's perhaps even more impressive is the dialogue. You can tell there was a concerted effort from the localization team to make everything sound natural and flow well - at least according to the standards of medieval England.
For instance:
"A guard captain in these rain-sodden hinterlands ought not to expect chivalry". Speaking of characters:
Gaffgarion of the Order of the Northern Sky is some sort of captain, I think? He doesn't seem too concerned with manners, especially towards the "Order" which is either the clergy or the monarchy, hard to tell right now. Her "highness", Ovelia is praying in a church, but she could just be a religious princess.
Let's see.... Agrius is a guard captain, Gaffgarion and Ramza are contractors-- HE SPEAKS?
OK I'm not sure why I didn't expect the main character(?) to speak but I'm glad he does. His voice reminds me of Strohl from Metaphor: ReFantazio, and not just because they're both intensely British sounding (said as a Brit myself).
So like... I think these guys are gonna get wiped the fuck out soon. I don't know why I think that, they just kinda have that vibe.
Before we can stew on the scene, the Duke of Goltanna's men come knocking. The intro mentioned a succession war, and something about two lions, so maybe this is one of the two factions? A duke would be the right level of royalty to be fighting over a throne, I think.
We're taken outside, giving us a slightly better look at the artstyle. A long building standing in a blue void, and a few people scattered around. It looks fairly simple, but if the entire game looks like this then I'm excited. I can only imagine what they're gonna do with this, and the type of scenes they could pull off.
Anyways, let's not get ahead of ourselves here.
"They bear the crest of the Black Lion.... Duke Goltanna must be mad!" Aha! War of Two Lions! Let me guess, the other one is the White Lion? So maybe my theory was right?
I fucking LOVE the walking on the spot for no damn reason LMAO, it's charming as hell.
Gaffgarion wants to slaughter them all, but Agrius says that would only play into Goltanna's hands... how? Why would he want us to do that? Also, why are we surprised that he's attacking? Perhaps he's trying to find some justification to launch a wider attack.
Then, we're launched into gameplay and.... what is HAPPENING here??? For context, I've only played FFX, FFIX and FFX-2, so this is VERY different. No point in explaining it, since everyone here knows how to play, but I'll just mention a few things...
I'm REALLY excited to get into the intricacies of the combat system. Apparently there's some sort of job system (when I use Ramza's Melee ability it says it belongs to his "job"), which will be fun to learn, too.
OK so the person who just stole Ovelia was Delita, which is strange.
Ivalice lost to Odellia, being forced to give lots of reparations and land to the latter.
CHAPTER 1:
As I said, a LOT is said in this game in very quick succession. Names, events, places. Seems like what I need to know is that Ramza isn't a particularly high-ranking soldier (just an apprentice actually), from a family of nobles, and there are some shits terrorising the local town, so they're sent there to act on behalf of the royal order.
Ramza has brothers - Zalbaag and Dycedarg, and a sister, too. Barbaneth, his father, is on his deathbed. I'm REALLY interested in Delita - it seems a bit too early to establish him as the primary antagonist of the game. He kinda seems like someone who we're supposed to think has betrayed us/defected to the other side (based on that very first opening scene), but I think he'll come around later in the game. We're clearly in Medias Res here, but I think that scene isn't towards the end of the game.
Barbaneth says Delita is "lowborn", but he used his sway to get him into the Akademy, against the headmaster's wishes. Of the, like, 10 characters I've been introduced to so far, Delita seems like by far the most relevant to the story, and I want to see more of him.
There's a battle and, as I expected, we can indeed control units outside of Ramza. Good. Would've gotten boring if I had to just sit there and watch. This radically new style of gameplay will take some time to get used to, but I see the skeleton of something really enjoyable here.
Strange time to mention this, but I'm pretty sure it's Ramza and Delita on the main artwork for the game! The one that appears when you open the game on Steam. So clearly there's a lot going on there.
I am unusually fascinated by this dynamic. We know that Ramza and Delita began as friends, the former being a noble and the latter a lowborn. In a regular story, you'd expect to be following Delita, kinda like Zidane, so that's already interesting. We also know that Delita joins the opposing faction later on in life, and that even later on than that, he's regarded as the hero who ended the war.
I hesitate to say that Delita is evil or the main antagonist of the game for two reasons:
So here's my prediction - Ramza and Delita will grow apart during the course of the story, before reuniting at some point (probably after what we saw in the opening) and Delita will make some large sacrifice cementing him as the hero in the history books.
Source: literally nothing, I'm going purely off of vibes right now lmao.
OH MY GOD we have an encyclopedia, red alert. There is SO much to read, and I really respect how much the game delves into its own world, it shows a deep love and care from the developers.
I will read EVERYTHING. First, I check out some of the rumours at the Tavern, and oh my god the history is so deep and rich I actually fucking love it lmao. I'm not sure to what extent all of this will be plot-relevant, but I'm here for it either way. I kinda hope it isn't, since that would mean they did it for the fun of it and no other reason.
I'm sure there's much worth mentioning in these extracts, and I did read everything there was to read (particularly the especially lengthy extract on the fifty years' war (and that's coming from ME of all people)), but I will mention that Ramza's father was the leader of the Order of the Northern Sky, and that there also exists the Order of the Southern Sky, led by Cidolfus Orlandeau, also known as the Thunder God. You're not slick game, I see Cid here! I bet he has some sort of airship here too lmao.
The vibe I'm getting is that Ivalice is a kingdom on its knees. It got its ass handed to it in war and, without the funds to pay soldiers' for their work, became ravaged by disgruntled peasants and members of the army turned brigand.
MANDALIA PLAIN:
Once again, we're in battle. This time, we only get 4 units. When I check one of them, I realise that the Status menu has a "Job" option - it looks like I can freely change my units' jobs, and one of them can go from a Squire to a Knight! How fun! Sure, fuck it, let's see what happens.
I wanna take a moment to compliment the voice acting in this game - every single performance I've heard so far sounds incredibly, everyone seems to be giving it their all. Even the smaller side characters and bandits sound great.
In gameplay, if I had one question, I'm not sure what effect changing the direction you face after a turn has on the flow of battle. I'd assume it affects where you're allowed to move in your next turn? Seems difficult to tell right now. I also don't know why random fodder levels up during battle. I guess it means they get health boosts and whatever?
Battles are long, and require lots of navigating through menus, but everything seems slow and logical right now. That or I'm just trash and they're only supposed to take like a minute lmao.
The guy we rescued, Argath, is a knight-apprentice for Marquis Elmdore, who the Encyclopedia tells me is a fearsome warrior and respected leader. Unfortunately, he's been kidnapped by the Corpse Brigade, so he can't be THAT strong lmao. He also looks like a bit of a dick in his portrait. Temu Sephiroth over here.
Argath becomes a temporary recruit and we head off to Eagrose Castle!
I think for the sake of keeping things at least slightly brief, I'll end things here. Here are my thoughts so far:
TL;DR: Visuals are really cool, love the artstyle and the extra detail that I assume was added by the remaster is really nice too. The best thing so far is the lore and abundance of information, SO much to sink your teeth into, I spent a good 15 minutes just reading into the history of the world, its places and its people. Voice acting and dialogue are also immaculate, I love the Shakespearean-esque writing.
Gameplay has potential but is quite slow right now. I do enjoy the tactics (bruh) of it all, especially retreating when low and positioning different units. The Job system shows promise, can't wait for that to unfold. Music is also cool.
I really really want to see the relationship between Ramza and Delita develop, as that seems like the central focus of the game. I also want to watch the political situation develop, doubly so after having read the rumours and Encyclopedia.
Current theory: Delita will turn against us at some point (as shown in the opening) but will rejoin our side and have some big final sacrifice at the end of it all.
Thanks for reading!