this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2024
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Love having all my party members twiddling their thumbs defending and healing while one guy fails his steal rolls 10 times in a row

I extra love it if the steal move deals damage so you have to also worry about the target dying from too many failed attempts

I double extra love it when it's a boss battle when on top of everything else the story momentum just grinds to a halt while you fuck with a stupid RNG for 5 minutes

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago (3 children)

I beat ff9 as a stupid kid without ever stealing anything, it's only necessary if you're trying to 100%.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago

It's like arguing that maxing out Freya's dragon slayer move is a necessary mechanic. Sure, it'll make the optional super boss less annoying, but it's really not necessary.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

In the same way that you can beat FFX without playing Blitzball (aside from half of a mandatory game) but my point isn't that you must do it, rather that it's central to the story and yet it's straight up tedious and completely lacking in any imagination.

I guess having more than one item available to steal was the major innovation in this respect?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Blitzball is a major aspect of FFXs story, but in FFIX stealing is just an option on a menu. I guess I agree that it's not a good mechanic but I disagree with the weight you put on it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

I mean, the protagonist is locked into a pseudo-class of thief, he is part of a troupe of thieves, and thieving is a motif throughout the game with you visiting the thieves' hideout, going to a city of thieves, the kidnapping of royalty and fighting against others to protect your loot etc. etc.

From my perspective you're underselling how thieving is central to the FF9 story by saying that it's simply one command in a battle menu.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

It's a bit of a problem when most of the game's mechanics feel unnecessary

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Stealing during combat was not nearly "most" lol, rest of the game was more or less fine.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I mean most of the deeper mechanics and content. It's just there for completionists

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

I would argue that grind for full completion is not even mechanics, it just fake content using the normal mechanics and maybe force you to minmax and run around really much.