Should I Return to Playing… Final Fantasy X?

Friday on February 15^th I finished playing the Story Mode for Tidus in Dissidia 012: Final Fantasy.  I enjoyed watching how even though Tidus hated his father Jecht, he also respected him and wanted to fight him when he wasn’t already beaten down by, uh, the Emperor of FFII.  It was then that I had this thought:

I should get back to playing Final Fantasy X.  Should I?

I haven’t played that video game since, well, since maybe 2009.  I need to check the memory card data to confirm that, LOL.  But I think the reason I haven’t played it so much the last uh, TEN YEARS, is that I…I dunno.  I still have the BradyGames Official Strategy Guide for FFX.  Ah, yes….I absolutely HATED the BlitzBall game going on in the middle of things.  Hey, I don’t play football, I don’t watch football, so why do I want to play Blitz ball which is kinda the same thing except underwater?!  It just really turned me off and I put the game away for some years.  There are so many stats and rules for the game it just didn’t make the actual video game fun.  I wanted to play more into the story, darnit!  Let me f#!%&^n’ go!

Oh, here’s another thing that made me lose my patience for the game:  the Sphere Grid.  Yuck, it is frustrating because I don’t get the necessary Ability Points and Grid Spheres fast enough to level up the characters.   EDIT:   It’s a little easier to work with now after getting back to it a couple of weeks ago.

Looking back though, at some point I did go through with the BlitzBall, as frustrating as it was, and I think I did defeat the boss Oblitzerator.   I also think I left off right before the party was going to go somewhere else.

I had to go to iTunes and find this battle BGM that I remembered but didn’t know the title to it.  I looked and it’s called “Enemy Attack.”  I always loved that music track from the game.  I preferred it from the other battle BGMs I’ve encountered so far into the game.  It would have been cool if Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy had this as an unlockable extra Battle BGM.  At least, that’s my opinion.

Note:  My favorite weapon Tidus uses is the blue longsword called Brotherhood.  I realize that now after seeing that Bartz uses this weapon when he mimics Tidus.

Update on Dissidia 012 [Duodecim] Final Fantasy: Finished Scenario 012!!

So it took a while, because I made my top party members gather some extra KP before moving on. Up to 247 KP total. Yuna was the leader for a bit so she can get some more EXP as well as level up faster and get some for the other party members.

Things worked out great. At the Rift, Lightning and Vaan were my highest-leveled fighters (naturally since Lightning was in Chapter 1 and then Vaan is my favorite of the new fighters. I love his Crossbow attacks :]  )

It also turned out that Lightning was the last to fight—and the right one because she was level 44 and Garland was level 39.

I liked how DDFF introduced the concept of “party” in the game series, and how you can choose to have one of the characters fight for everyone or have each character fight a separate member of the enemy party. When it was Tifa’s turn though, she was getting her butt kicked and at the end of the battle had 110 HP left. The victory line she said was, “Phew, that was a close call.” True, very true.

That’s when I noticed my PSP’s power indicator was blinking.

I gotta finish these fights quick so I can save. I was rewarded with more plot cinema, but at the same time I was afraid the battery would die on me in the middle of everything. I couldn’t relax and enjoy any of it. And then the beautiful vivid cinematic CGI graphics worried me even more, using up more battery life. Then the epilogue narration comes in, and I go, “Hurry up, hurry up, I need to save and quit the game!” I read the narration text and wanted to skip it (the narrator’s voice takes his sweet time, doesn’t he?) But I couldn’t progress forward on my own pace.

I got a new report and new PP catalog items but I didn’t see what they were because my priority was to quit the game before the PSP would shut itself off. Mission successful, with 5% battery power to spare.

I returned to the game again with my console fully charged. Went to the Museum Theater to watch those final scenes again from Scenario 012, enjoying them this time.

Current Progress in Dissidia Duodecim Final Fantasy

The last time I played the game, I completed Kain Highwind’s Scenario 012 chapter. I liked the music that was playing in the background while Kain roamed the field. Firion was with him. The field music definitely provided a different atmosphere playing his chapter than playing the Yuna or Lightning’s chapters. Kain is currently level 22, after finishing his story.

I like that Kain’s helmet hides his eyes, making him look more mysterious than he already shows to be. Mystery Guy.

So Tifa is next. She is level 18 now, since I’ve been leveling her up as I played through half of her chapter. Now that she is leveled up and has some more abilities, she isn’t so tough to play anymore. I ‘m so used to playing characters that have a weapon, but Tifa is a close-range type of character and so it will be interesting fighting as her.

A New Favorite FF song, thanks to Dissidia Duodecim-- Not Alone

I was playing Dissidia Duodecim FF the other day and out of curiosity for more FF IX music, I used some of the PP earned in the game so far to unlock the battle music BGM track, “Not Alone.”

I really like it. It’s been stuck in my head for the past few days. I even went to iTunes to listen to the sample of it (without hearing all the sound FX during the battles). I found out there is an option in the Options Menu, where one can turn off the SFX so that you can hear the music without having the SFX obstructing the nice background music. I just might do that for a few battles and see for myself how that is.

Man I love this song now.  I've never played this game but DDFF introduced me to a few really good music tracks from FF IX.  As for the music track “Darkness of Eternity,” I unlocked that immediately when I realized I could unlock the new BGM music with PP. I already knew what that sounded like (I bought it on iTunes), and it is cool to have it as battle music when fighting as Kuja. Or Zidane versus Kuja.

Here is a link to a video that features "Not Alone" (or "You're Not Alone") along with some footage from the original video game: http://youtu.be/Sx_Qqzs4cfk

Dissidia 012 [Duodecim] Final Fantasy Update on My Progress

So far in Dissidia Duodecim FF, I am up to Yuna’s Chapter in the story mode. I leveled her up to level 4 before beginning her story. Currently she is level 11.

Sigh. She’s not my favorite character to play, but I am getting the hang of playing as a character that lets her Aeons do all of the fighting, hah hah. I learned that Shiva is a short-range attack and Valefor (my favorite Aeon only because he is the only Aeon I have in my current progress of Final Fantasy X) is long range. Bahamut is long or short range depending on how long I hold the BRV attack button to charge the attack. I love that one.

I was so mean: I let Yuna fight against the sweet Terra Branford. But oh well, I could have leveled her up with someone like Squall or the Warrior of Light. I just thought it would be interesting to have Yuna fight against another girl. Even Terra can be tough, though. Her “Benevolent Wind” attack gets annoying when she keeps using it (and she got Yuna with it three times in a row), but, that’s Terra for ya.

I decided to keep Firion in his Alternate Form #2 for now. In the first Dissidia, he is in his Alternate form already. I prefer him with spiky hair (Final Fantasy trend, anyone? Does anyone wanna see Zidane with spiky hair?). I prefer Terra with her emerald-colored hair, and, um…for now, Cloud Strife is in his Alternate Form #2 also.  Just to see how he fights with white shoes.  :D 

I want to see Kain Highwind’s face, so I have him in his Alt. Form #2 where he wears the hat. Yes I know he may look more dangerous and powerful in the purple dragon armor but I like his desert garb. As for Warrior of Light, I currently have him in his Red Form (that was a lot of PP to spend), but I will change him back to his light blue form with the long hair and the horned helmet. I am quite used to him like that already. Why change him, right? His Red Form is for those who want that nostalgia factor in their game, and for the original Final Fantasy I, I don’t have that nostalgic feeling playing the Red WoL.

And oh!  Actually, about Zidane and spiky hair... his hair does get kinda spiky when he turns into a pink monkey for his EX Burst. Okay, then that’s settled. Never mind. But suppose he asked Cloud nicely…

: 3 

Dissidia Duodecim Final Fantasy on June 26 + DFF Levels Update for July 12th

For Dissidia Duodecom FF, The 26th was just an hour long, so I had time to mainly level up Bartz. I chose Zidane to be his Assist Character because, well, they’re buddy pals.


Here is a list of the levels of the characters I have played so far…

• Cloud.............................1 (or 2?)

• Vaan………………….14

• Lightning…………….13

• Bartz………………….4

• Firion…………………4

• Warrior of Light………6



After a battle fighting as WoL, a victory line he says is, “That took too long.” :D 

Dissidia FF up to this point, July 12th
Here are the levels of the characters of DFF so far:

• Kuja………………….36

• Cloud………………..63

• Zidane………………71

• Firion……………….56

• Bartz………………..42

• Tidus………………14

• Cecil………………21

• Squall……………….6

• Sephiroth…………….3

• Terra…………………...7

• Warrior of Light……………52

Dissidia on April 23 and 30 + Getting Ready for Dissidia Duodecim Final Fantasy

Sorry for the looooooooong wait, guys. =P

I’ve been reading up on DDFF (from The Lifestream.net and FFU) and I am very pleased about the additional goodies that come with the sequel to Dissidia Final Fantasy. Man, I am wayyyy behind. I am on Chapter 3 of Shade Impulse and left off needing to level up Zidane and a few other heroes.

I haven’t touched Squall and Tidus, probably because they are my least favorite heroes fighting for Cosmos. If I ever do, it may be only to see their side of the story of Dissidia. I had just finished Onion Knight’s DO on April 30th and it was really easy for me, considering that he was near level 20 when I began. I am starting to understand why Terra is with the Chaos group on the cover of  Dissidia Duodecim Final Fantasy (DDFF). And Tidus, I’ll see. What I really want to know is why Cloud is standing next to Sephiroth in the Chaos half of the box art for DDFF. Poor Cloud, he doesn’t know what he wants to do. At this point, my guess is that Cloud will have to be a character that can be unlocked once certain requirements are met. That was how it was for the villains in this first game.

I am afraid to read reviews of the game because I don’t want much of the story to be disclosed to me. I guess it’s my fault for not playing the game frequently enough to be almost done by now. I know there are other games I can rent or buy, but as a Dissidia fan I cannot miss out on this, and the next big game I am excited about may not even be release by the end of this year (I’m talkin’ Final Fantasy Versus XIII, and maybe Metal Gear Solid: Rising).

I am giving myself more time to finish the first Dissidia. It might be the only video game I get to for the next couple of months. In the meanwhile, besides updating my progress, I will respond to the occasional video game news or reminisce about another game I’ve played in the past. Possible upcoming topics may be:

• FFVII remake for PSP 2?

• More thoughts about Dissidia Duodecim

• My introduction to Square Enix continues: FFVII

• News from FF Versus XIII.net

• Return to the world of NiGHTS

• Reminisce about my excitement about Jak II

• Video game-related dreams

• Video game YouTube videos

EDIT:  There may be more topics than this.  See the next post.