[Widge]

I'm getting!

http://uk.psp.ign.com/articles/860/8...0&RSSid=860615

[achoudry]

will read this later on. nice one!

when is the release date again?!

[Widge]

25th is it?

[achoudry]

i'm assuming that is a U.S. release date as play are showing are a release date in june!?

[khan786]

That sucks June is ages away. I am picking up a psp end of the month for my young brother and was looking forward to this. Anyways my only concern about the game is the loading times - they can't be that bad can they???

[achoudry]

i'm not sure about load times but i've just checked and 25th is the release date in the U.S.

you can order online from a U.S. site and get it sent over to the uk! just checked amazon.com and it's selling for around £20!

[khan786]

Yea the ign review stated something about the load times being quite long, they also mentioned that the game does not allow you to skip cut sequences which can be quite long.

[achoudry]

would you want to skip cut scenes?

normally they are well worth watching!

does the ign review give any indication as to how long the load times are in secs/mins?

[Jason_S]

I think the release date is 27/06/2008,

Play.com have it as: Pre-order. | Due for release on 27/06/2008
http://www.play.com/Games/PSP/4-/523...I/Product.html

Looks very good tho

[Widge]

The cut scene irritant could be if you watch a massive one, die, and then have to go through it again.

I'm wondering if load times cut down when playing from memory card? Load times are doubtful to be mins! More like seconds. Its the transfer speed from UMD.

Anyway, I wouldn't wait til June, buy the US copy from somewhere like Movietyme or Videogamesplus!

[khan786]

Originally Posted by achoudry

would you want to skip cut scenes?

normally they are well worth watching!

does the ign review give any indication as to how long the load times are in secs/mins?

I am one of the biggest FF7 fans of all time and it is without doubt my most favourite game - however, imagine a cut scence is say 4mins and right after a boss - u die - restart - cut scene watch again in entriety - boss - u die etc etc. It would test the biggest FF fans out there and this would be silly.

On a very side note - who here on these boards actually completed FF7 fully. By this i mean got Knights of the Round and killed the 2 behomoths bosses ( the real challanges in the game) - One was underwater near the submarine and the other in the sandy pits. I did and it felt absolutely great .

[achoudry]

if the cut scene happens like that, which i would be surprised if it did, then yes, it would be annoying.

surely they can't stick a cut scene in like that though...it must mean in game ones where you are on part of your journey as opposed to one that you might have to load several times as mentioned in your scenario?

[Widge]

I've done in Emerald Weapon. I did it without using a battle strategy guide though. Final attack x 5 with Phoenix, lots of KOTR and Demi-All attacks.

Little did I know that his attack on you is based on the amount of materia you hold.

Just didn't have the oooomph to take on Ruby....

[Widge]

I also loved the Deep Sea Research Lab in FF8, great fights all the way down and Ultima Weapon right at the bottom.

FFX had some great battles in the Monster Arena. Nails though.

[Intya]

I'm waiting for the PAL version as we're getting a shiny artbook to go with it, at least GAME & Play have it listed anyway. Got too many awesome games to be playing across all formats as it is!

Oh, and many moons ago I took out both Emerald & Ruby, before the days of instant strat guides online... Did a victory dance afterward too. If I remember rightly I just brute forced them both, Emerald with as many FA-Phoenix, limits & quadra magic etc as I had, and then Ruby by beefing up Cloud as much as possible, hoping that he'd remove the other two characters, and then obliterating him with Omnislash & KOTR. Found Ruby the easier of the two oddly enough?

[achoudry]

ff7 was great. wish they would do an updated version for the ps3!

i could do with playing it again with updated graphics. quite liked bolting on materia to my weapons...in fact it's probably my favourite way of levelling up in all the ff games since!

wondering whether to wait for the uk release of crisis core. hmmm...

[Widge]

Well... no loading time problems via memory card. I can kind of see the camera issues, but its so so so minor.

FANTASTIC looking game, so well presented. I find it shares alot with FFXII. Takes a bit to get used to the DMW though, I'm still baffled!

[achoudry]

ign say the dmw takes a bit of getting used to but works really well and makes the battles a lot more interesting.

i need to buy this from a place in the US.

any recommendations where from?

[Widge]

videogamesplus! I think just about anyone here recommends that. Movietyme people say as well, but they took a MONTH for my Oblivion GOTY!

The DMW, it makes stuff entertaining. All of a sudden the wheels pop up... sometimes you get random picture slideshows, movie snippets... mad. Not sure whether or not I'm meant to be pressing anything!

Oh, the summons are GREAT. Best in a FF so far. When fighting a summon, it seamlessly moves from ingame engine to CGI, so wonderful effects there.

I had a wicked fight on a side mission just now against the scorpion tank that is the first boss from FF7. I really had to be careful. Block, wait for attack, then get in with thunders. Also you have to monitor your AP, once thats out you can't roll or block... a disaster against something like that as it was TWOMPING me for a good 500-600HP (and I was only at 1400HP).

You can make your own materia it seems, bolster the materia with boost effects, sounds cool. Great for people who like to tinker and go on side missions to pick up items and stuff.

I think its GREAT.

[achoudry]

sounds very very cool. how does the roll work? is it counted as a move and can you decide which side to roll?

definitely going to have to get this soon. thanks for the website info!

[pboreham]

See you took the route I took Widge

This is what I had been waiting for if you read my RPG thread and THIS IS the game I wanted RPGs to be!!!

Superb stuff - my first ever FF and I just cannot believe its on a handheld - the graphics are awesome, voice acting is good and love all the modern interface/PDA/Emails etc - very cool.

As a FF Virgin, expect lots of questions :D

OH, just quickly, the cut scenes CANNOT be skipped and it DOES get annoying. I died quiet early (game just loops back to the intro credits, no restart, death notice movie or anything, bit odd)... anyway, loaded my save game and had to sit through 5 mins of movies again.

Feel a bit bad as they are so well done they probably dont deserve skipping, but for a handheld where the emphasis is on quick play, its annoying!

Right, questions!!!

1) As I died early, I assume if my HP is low, I need a potion - or run away and recover?

2) Do you get other weapons in the game, or is it just the sword?

3) Thats it for now!

When this comes out, I'm buying it for sure!

[Widge]

Originally Posted by achoudry

sounds very very cool. how does the roll work? is it counted as a move and can you decide which side to roll?

definitely going to have to get this soon. thanks for the website info!

Square is block and Triangle is roll. Triangle can roll you out of the middle of bad guys, out of the way of projectiles and magic (if you're sharp). Block really does reduce damage, but your AP goes down while you have it on.

RE: dying. In missions, you just get dumped out to the save point you were at, handy. Not died in game yet, with that you'll need to be using potions or cure materia.

I reckon you'll just have the sword for this game, but looks like you can get accessories and weapon buffs. I've got mute shock which will add silence to my attacks. Although I was hoping you'd get some sort of visually different weapon. We will see, early days yet.

EDIT:

I think I'll hit PSOne FF7 after this!

[Kube]

Ill happily wait for the UK version of this as i managed to get FF7 running faultlessly on my PSP last night. Amazing.

[pboreham]

Cheers Widge, as I said - total Noob, so heres another q-

What is Materia!? What is it, what is it used for, where do I get it, what do I do with it! :D Help!

Originally Posted by Widge

Square is block and Triangle is roll. Triangle can roll you out of the middle of bad guys, out of the way of projectiles and magic (if you're sharp). Block really does reduce damage, but your AP goes down while you have it on.

RE: dying. In missions, you just get dumped out to the save point you were at, handy. Not died in game yet, with that you'll need to be using potions or cure materia.

I reckon you'll just have the sword for this game, but looks like you can get accessories and weapon buffs. I've got mute shock which will add silence to my attacks. Although I was hoping you'd get some sort of visually different weapon. We will see, early days yet.

EDIT:

I think I'll hit PSOne FF7 after this!

[pboreham]

Originally Posted by Kube

Ill happily wait for the UK version of this as i managed to get FF7 running faultlessly on my PSP last night. Amazing.

Is FF7 good (is that a stoopid question?!) - and is this the PS1 version using Poploader?

If so, how big is the FF7 file? Might be interested in that...

[Widge]

Yeppo, Popsloader PS1 FF7. Its probably the one of the best games I have EVER played. Crisis Core is the story of the events that lead up to the Nibelheim incident which is referred to in FF7.

FF7 will fully satisfy your levelling, weapon collecting needs too. Also its a fantastic story. Won't look as good as Crisis Core but it doesn't matter. I played the game over and over again solidly for a year just for the joy of it all. Possibly one of the best games ever made, and had a legendary gameplay moment that happens at the end of the 1st CD. Its more RPGY than this, as in you get a bunch of characters and get to level them, the materia that you bind to them etc. You spend a good 3/4 hours just in Midgar at the beginning. Great stuff!

Final Fantasy 8 is also excellent, a bit more niggly to run (I've done a thread in this forum about it). Final Fantasy 9 is also really good and the best looking of the PSOne games.

Ok, materia. Materia are crystals which contain the knowledge of 'the ancients', which allow you to tap into abilities:

Green Materia - Magic, Attack, Restorative and Battle Buffs
Pink Materia - Permanent status effects in battle
Yellow Materia - Command abilities
Blue Materia - Effects (like scanning etc)
Red Materia - Summoning
Black Materia - dunno if this is in this game yet

You have 4 slots to start with to bolt materia onto. So you can go into battle with say Fire, Cure, Power Attack and HP+20% for example. When you hit SOLDIER 1st Class, you get 6 slots.

FF7's size... can't say it'll break 2GB. Maybe not even 1.5GB. Was just 3 CDs. The others in the series were 4CDs.

I appear to be quite nails in Crisis Core now. I really hit the side missions. Just had materia fusion unlocked so you can make your own. I've noticed that Fire/Blizzard/Thunder + Esuna = Dark Fire/Thunder/Blizzard.

[pboreham]

Cheers Widge, thats great!

I'll have a dig around for FF7 as it sound brilliant - dunno how I've missed out on these games for so long. Does 9 run on Popsloader too?

I've got quite a few sticks to get with next months wages!...

Originally Posted by Widge

Yeppo, Popsloader PS1 FF7. Its probably the one of the best games I have EVER played. Crisis Core is the story of the events that lead up to the Nibelheim incident which is referred to in FF7.

FF7 will fully satisfy your levelling, weapon collecting needs too. Also its a fantastic story. Won't look as good as Crisis Core but it doesn't matter. I played the game over and over again solidly for a year just for the joy of it all. Possibly one of the best games ever made, and had a legendary gameplay moment that happens at the end of the 1st CD. Its more RPGY than this, as in you get a bunch of characters and get to level them, the materia that you bind to them etc. You spend a good 3/4 hours just in Midgar at the beginning. Great stuff!

Final Fantasy 8 is also excellent, a bit more niggly to run (I've done a thread in this forum about it). Final Fantasy 9 is also really good and the best looking of the PSOne games.

Ok, materia. Materia are crystals which contain the knowledge of 'the ancients', which allow you to tap into abilities:

Green Materia - Magic, Attack, Restorative and Battle Buffs
Pink Materia - Permanent status effects in battle
Yellow Materia - Command abilities
Blue Materia - Effects (like scanning etc)
Red Materia - Summoning
Black Materia - dunno if this is in this game yet

You have 4 slots to start with to bolt materia onto. So you can go into battle with say Fire, Cure, Power Attack and HP+20% for example. When you hit SOLDIER 1st Class, you get 6 slots.

FF7's size... can't say it'll break 2GB. Maybe not even 1.5GB. Was just 3 CDs. The others in the series were 4CDs.

I appear to be quite nails in Crisis Core now. I really hit the side missions. Just had materia fusion unlocked so you can make your own. I've noticed that Fire/Blizzard/Thunder + Esuna = Dark Fire/Thunder/Blizzard.

[Widge]

9 works fine, its just FF8 you have to be a bit special with...

Oh by the way, using a Phoenix feather equips Zack with Raise, which means he will autorevive after being KO'd. You can use one of these in or out of fights and they last until to revive.

[MCHardmanUK]

Looks great, though I wish it kept the battle system of FF7. I'm just working my way through 1 and 2 on the PSP and I must say I love them becasue everything is the same as 7 but with reduced graphics.

Here's hoping they bring the rest of the series out for the PSPI'll buy them.

[jshippey]

Anyone know of a good website that will allow me to import the guide from the US? Please no flaming, I'm one of those 100% complete freaks!!