It's really one game split into two. There's some new tracks in The Lost Age, but if you weren't a fan of the first OST, the second isn't any different.
The story continues in the sequel and rounds things out a bit more. If I had to pick between the two, The Lost Age is my favourite, but you can't have that without the first.
It's okay, don't worry. They "don't really think of [their] game as fitting with any particular label".
Tldr, the games director never referred to it as a live service game (even though it has all the elements of one and takes a lot from other live service games).
I'm actually playing FF7 for the first time on a handheld emulator. I've previously tried to play FF4 and FF6 (several times) but couldn't really get too far in before giving up. I'm nearly 8 hours into FF7 now and, while it's definitely a bit dated in terms of controls (and obviously graphics), I'm having a much better time with it and as it stands, can see finishing it if it keeps going like it is. I just made it to the open world.
Yea, I don't know. I disagree with the others. They're definitely not modern games, but I think they're both still quite good games individually.
I would recommend MGS3, personally.
I definitely understand it's a game that pioneered a lot of concepts, so I don't necessarily blame it or think it's bad, but future games improved a lot on it to make it manageable. I don't have a problem with random battles, either. But these ones were definitely testing my patience. Thank you for the little history lesson! If I make it through FF6 I'm interested to try the 3D ones for the first time.
Is this your first time playing it? Or, like many people, at least 10th playthrough.
Sea of Stars. A lot has been said recently on this game, don't feel I need to say more. Thoroughly enjoyed my time with it. Well worth the price and hours spent to me.
Oriental Blue: Ao no Tengai. This game was very interesting. Released in Japan only for the GBA, I had to find a fan-translated version. It has a lot of interesting mechanics, like a gem-slotting mechanic on all of your weapons and armour to vastly improve them, and other things going for it. It doesn't hold your hand, and you can accomplish some things in different orders. That can be frustrating for some, but I enjoyed the freedom and felt it allowed me to explore more.
Truthfully there were points where it was a bit confusing, but I don't hold that against the game. I'd recommend any JRPG fan to give this one a try.
Final Fantasy IV. Speaking of giving things a try, I've tried to play FFIV several times over the years. People really recommend the game, and I honestly can't see why. This latest attempt I made it just over an hour in before calling it quits. The amount of random battles is annoying, and how specific some of those battles needs to be is annoying. For example, you'll run into a pack of 6 zombies. Magic is the only thing to hurt them, and fire is the magic that'll do the most damage. So one of your characters can't do anything but 1 damage, since they just have physical attacks. Your other character doesn't have fire magic, so it takes them at least 2 attacks to down a zombie, using 10 of your 50-70mp for one enemy, and the other character can down them in 1 with their fire and being slightly higher level. And thats just one example. It's just... the combat feels poorly designed to me, and like something I want to just get through, not enjoy my time with.
However, I've been playing Final Fantasy VI now, and I've made it much further in. This one is a lot more enjoyable (so far).
Fortunately, all of those books seem to be in my local library ebook app, so I've got some new reading to do, thank you for the wonderful breakdown!
Audiobook unfortunately isn't much of an option for me due to attention issues. All I know is it's been impossible for me to find the Starlight & Shadows series.
If you have any recommendations for Evans' books I'd love to see if I can check those out, as well.
...I've already bought this game a bunch, but why not have another avenue in playing it? Truthfully I'll still probably play the SNES version.
Not saying you can't play just one or the other, but they're both made better by the existence of the other.