#i know the four swords games are just silly little co op games with little substance

[joshuamj]

LOOK WHAT I GOT

[serpenttailedangel]

Thoughts on FFCC online

Did a few more dungeons (thankfully with no DLC players) and here’s my take:

Communication This is straight up the main problem with the multiplayer. I’m thinking of adjusting my text presets with basic directional and intention statements, although no one seems to use the message system, because too often groups seem uncoordinated and not entirely on the same page. There are online games where you can run around with strangers no problem, but this was a game made originally for local co-op. You have to all move in the same direction with a unified goal. You can really feel the difference playing the game without being able to turn your head to the left and tell the person sitting next to you to go back we missed a chest, or to stop running off with the chalice because you need to reorganize you command list. (This one was particularly brutal the time we skipped over picking up Cure and everyone had to get by with perishable food items.) To say nothing of being unclear if someone just wants to rush the boss, if we’re collecting every item, etc.

Items This one really isn’t major, it’s just something I can’t get over after having grown up with the original. It really bugs me that artifacts and magicite are the only ‘shared’ loot, and everyone else has their own coins and other monster drops that they each get to pick up.

Given the communication issues, I get why they would do that. Personally, I think it was a fun gameplay element that there was only one sack of gil or piece of metal per monster in the old multiplayer. It added to the variety of the gameplay in determining if we were going to collaborate on who gets items to make it fair, or compete for them to spice things up. (The only built in competition is artifact selection order, and we would often disregard that out of courtesy to someone looking for another artifact, or repeat a dungeon for an artifact we all wanted.) You can’t really negotiate something like that with a limited number of preset text messages, and given my experience with communicating what direction to walk, trying to figure out the item etiquette of any given campaign with all shared loot would be a disaster.

That being said, I grew up with a game where we had to either negotiate to make item distribution fair or agree to make item collection a first come, first serve race (which required we work out a chalice carrying system so that people took turns being at a disadvantage. Just grabbing everything in multiplayer, even if I know others can still grab their own loot, feels greedy to me. Sibling feuds were made over stealing the iron when someone needed it to forge their sword.

Player Matching The obvious part is that it’s way easier to join an online player lounge than it is to find multiple people willing to gather around one gamecube with was many GBAs as there are players and a connection cord for everyone. (FFCC was the only game we owned that required multiple connectors, and most of our friends had no games that required one, such that they couldn’t bring theirs over to play. We could only play with friends because we bought enough cords to play with siblings.) Even among siblings, getting everyone excited to play the same game at the same time wasn’t a guarantee. So the online certainly delivers on my hope for easier to arrange multiplayer. Although I think I’d like to arrange more specifically now for people who I could voice chat with while playing.

It’s also much easier to find yukes to play with. Almost everyone I knew, myself included, went for clavats and selkies, and one playmate eventually decided to preference lilties. They do all vary, but three of the four are all more likely to swarm an enemy and only one is particularly inclined to hang back and cast magic from a distance.

That being said, one of the nice aspects of having a save file for an entire play group, where everyone had their own character in the village and you all went through each dungeon together, was that you were all at the same speed. I’ve seen people say that they enjoy helping weaker players through dungeons, but I enjoy having roughly the right stats and gear for the dungeon I’m going through. Getting matched to someone playing more obsessively than me or who bought DLC items that are better than the original endgame gear spoils the fun a little. At least as far as my personal enjoyment is concerned.

Wish List Some things I wish the game allowed for, aside from in-game voice chat:

The ability when setting up a team lobby to state if you’re only looking to rush the boss, collect items, etc so people can be on the same page when they agree to join. Wait, found this one. Good. Could have more options, but good

The option to only play with players in a given year or year range to reduce difference in character growth.

Local co-op. I can physically sit down next to someone and arrange to play online with them, but it’s silly that we need to go through the internet for that.