Final Fantasy "Ban Something" Part I
Apr. 14th, 2016 10:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
freshfeeling[This entry is adapted from the original GameFAQs posts written around the time the gameplay took place in April of 2016. It is actually being posted in March of 2023 around the origin of this blog. There may be minor edits.]
I solicited the Final Fantasy NES board on GameFAQs for aspects of gameplay to ban - the opposite of the "Gratitude Challenge" that Diamond_Dragon invented, which was trending among this small group at the time.
I actually began play shortly very shortly after the rules were established. This was the first thing I ever streamed on Twitch, actually! It's available on YouTube but I don't recommend watching; the video quality is bad and the audio quality is worse.
Wood is a bit of a hippie. He strongly appreciates nature and insists the party visits every tree in the world, except in the Elfland area. And those around the dwarf cave require extra love.
I solicited the Final Fantasy NES board on GameFAQs for aspects of gameplay to ban - the opposite of the "Gratitude Challenge" that Diamond_Dragon invented, which was trending among this small group at the time.
XScorpion posted...
I'll ban ever having all 4 characters alive at the same time (starting after the first fight obviously).
Impact: Adds some challenge. This on its own could easily be force a 3-person party but it's more interesting with some things added later.
beege_man posted...
I ban invoking more than one spell casting item in a battle (can't use the same one multiple times nor two different ones in the same battle).
Impact: This adds some challenge. Prevents Defense, White Shirt and Heal Staff spam. Possibly increases the value of mages since their magic is fair play... oh, except for other things added later.
ELQUEMANDA4 posted...
I ban entering any shop more than once.
Impact: This makes planning important; 10 years ago I was super regular on this board (and a bit of a mechanics expert though y'all know a lot more than I do, now), so I pretty much know what I'm doing, and as such I am planning on playing without referring to guides... so if I want, say, a Silver Sword, I'll need to be very careful about when I enter the Elfland weapon shop. This also makes me plan to buy all useful weapons and armor in Coneria immediately and save magic for later. The longer-range effects of this I'm less certain of. This definitely lowers the effectiveness of mages, or at least the convenience of them.
goatfishman posted...
I ban not appreciating nature.
Forests around Elfland are freebies but forests around the Dwarf cave need to be walked twice.
Impact: This is hilarious and annoying but I'm looking forward to it. Suddenly, the world map is important. Big impacts are the first trip to Pravoka, the Dwarf Cave, Onrac and Lefein. The Lefein walk is going to be nuts.
des223 posted...
I ban completing the Castle of Ordeals or Gurgu Volcano before getting the airship.
Impact: This forces my route, but shouldn't be too bad. After all, the value of both the Heal Staff and Zeus Gauntlet are greatly reduced in this run.
ActionIV posted...
I ban the removal of status effects in the field.
Impact: Inconvenient. Irritiating. Does in fact add some challenge because of something added later.
Diamond_Dragon posted...
I ban you from defeating any fiend with any dead characters that were dead in a fight with any previous fiend.
Impact: I think the jist here was to force the first rule from just being a 3-person party challenge, and it is done. I will have rotating corpses, and extremely uneven experience.
ZomBULL posted...
I ban the SELECT button!
Impact: Did you just take away my map? You monster! I mean, wait, of course you're a monster. Hm, you get the idea. Seriously though, this sucks because of Action's status rule and the rotating corpses, but let's see how it goes.
Efrate posted...
I ban thief.
Impact: Except that I stated that I don't like duplicate party members (and I really did intend to bring a thief!), this is basically a favor.
Hierophant2 posted...
I ban running.:)
Impact: #*&($! But hey, at least I don't have a thief.
MrL1193 posted...
I ban the repeat use of any given spell during a single battle.
Impact: So basically, eff mages. We are going to sword everything.
Zzonkmiles posted...
I ban all melee classes from using the MAGIC command after the class change.
Oh, and I ban all mage classes from using the FIGHT command after the class change.
Impact: This really made me think about party choice; my use of magic items is already slashed (by beege_man's rule), so the value of mages went up... and then later, it went down again (MrL1193). I think this really makes melee classes valuable, I just need some form of healing. I think I can make this work.
gameenjoyer posted...
I ban your black belt from ever equipping a nunchuck
Impact: Not too hard. Indeed, only affects a few levels. It will make a difference during an otherwise easy part, though.
LordMorgren posted...
I ban you from using spells to get out of a cave/dungeon/castle... you get the point. No EXIT and no multiple WARPS to use as a last resort for safety.
Impact: This can be pretty useful in the late game so it's at least a bit unfortunate.
The party is Wood the Fighter, Tick the Fighter, Look(i) the Black Belt and Mars the Red Mage.
Two fighters were chosen in order to make use of ribbons late game and because melee is going to rule... and really, it'll be strictly necessary for some of the harder parts.
Wood is a bit of a hippie. He strongly appreciates nature and insists the party visits every tree in the world, except in the Elfland area. And those around the dwarf cave require extra love.
Tick is obsessed with death and kills pretty much everything that isn't strictly necessary to him. So he's going to make sure that different party members die at different times. The name and general idea is taken from a friend's d20 character.
Looki is a min/maxed monk who doesn't care about anything other than making sure his plusses are their largest. His goal is to amass experience prior to Ordeals and, uh, not use nunchuks. This one is also taken from a friend's d20 character.
In their tabletop origins, Tick and Looki both make pretty terrible decisions about which battles to fight - since a DM would never present an encounter you can't win within reason, right? - and it's usually their big idiot barbarian friend, Feyndown, who is the voice of reason. Feyndown isn't here, so Tick and Looki aren't going to run from a single fight.
In their tabletop origins, Tick and Looki both make pretty terrible decisions about which battles to fight - since a DM would never present an encounter you can't win within reason, right? - and it's usually their big idiot barbarian friend, Feyndown, who is the voice of reason. Feyndown isn't here, so Tick and Looki aren't going to run from a single fight.
The final character is Mars, a fittingly abbreviated short form of Marius, a character from a super old IRC game I was a part of only very briefly. As a high society type, Mars/Marius would never shop at the same store twice or use the same magic item twice, as things get old fast for him. "Conerian armor is so Fall 2015."
I didn't make a ton of progress at all.
Wood died (because the rules said so). The others killed imps, two madponies, and some other crap. They attained L3 right before I stopped. Twice, I accidentally touched the forest tiles outside Coneria and had to take a long lap through the whole thing, but that didn't end up being an issue. I have 600+ gp and haven't bought any magic yet.
