Final Fantasy Chat

[tr0nic]

Which version should I try, SNES or GBA?

Unfortunately it’s a matter of preference:

SNES:
-Better soundboard means the OST sounds better than the GBA
-Ted Woolsey’s original translation-it’s less “accurate” to the original Japanese but many say it gives the game a lot of personality and memorable lines. It makes liberal changes, some out of necessity, and has a lot of quirks.

GBA:
-Additional content. A harder postgame dungeon.
-Retranslated to be more accurate. It’s much more dry and straightforward but features everything the original Japanese had in its text.
-Colour palette is changed to accommodate hardware.

Now if you’re playing on an emulation machine you actually have the option to pick and choose elements of these. There are mods that add the SNES OST to the GBA, and there are mods that add the GBA translation to the SNES.
There is also the Ted Woolsey Uncensored Edition: a fan-made, best-of-both-worlds translation that used Woolsey’s script as a base but retranslates anything lacking from the SNES translation and makes it more accurate.

Wow shit I did not expect this many options. I want the additional content of the GBA, but the original color palette, OST, and bad translation of the SNES. Thanks for all the input though, seriously. Gonna see which runs better on my handheld emulator, but I'm leaning towards that OG SNES version.

there are good arguments for all of VI to X to say they're the "best" to be fair and I'd never really argue with anyone on those.

It really is one of the most impressive runs for a flagship series in video game history. I gotta say though, in those four games, VIII is a total black sheep. I'll argue with anyone any day that it is easily not the best one. On the one hand, it has some of the coolest min maxing you can do in an FF game, on the other the capacity to softlock your save is kind of insane. And then there's a good chance the player gets totally addicted to just playing Triple Triad and forgets the story altogether, which happened to me during my first playthrough and then I ended up softlocking my damn save.

Went to Distant Worlds in London last night.

Very jealous, that sounds like a very good time.