Ok, I feel really bad about this, because they are both wonderful games and it hurts to choose between them, but I'm going with Final Fantasy.

Final Fantasy, on the NES, was the very first video game I ever played. My brother and I found our dad's copy when I was 7 and he was 5, and we spent the next year playing it and mastering it. We've made a tradition out of playing those games together from then on and it was one of our staples growing up. A lot of fond memories revolve around the original, so I have to vote for it out of nostalgia.

Sorry Metroid.

The remakes sucked balls. Especially the Playstation one.

erock462 wrote:

Red_Mage wrote: The remakes sucked balls. Especially the Playstation one. Yeah i guess if you really hate cleaned up and better looking graphics and the ability for more dialog, or just interesting new bosses that really test mastery of the game, or added artwork for fans. Then yes those remakes do indeed suck balls.

Or a toned down difficulty that enabled most pre-schoolers to master it, and a save system that removed all nuances of planning or strategy as game play elements.

erock462 wrote:

Red_Mage wrote: erock462 wrote: Red_Mage wrote: The remakes sucked balls. Especially the Playstation one. Yeah i guess if you really hate cleaned up and better looking graphics and the ability for more dialog, or just interesting new bosses that really test mastery of the game, or added artwork for fans. Then yes those remakes do indeed suck balls. Or a toned down difficulty that enabled most pre-schoolers to master it, and a save system that removed all nuances of planning or strategy as game play elements. In rpgs the difficulty all comes down to you. Too easy? try gaining less levels. Try using a diff setup of party. Problem solved.

That's an oversimplification.

When you can save on every floor of ever dungeon and get a do-over when you want, it makes it easier.

When you are no longer limited to just a few casts of the life spell, it makes thing way easier.

When your primary means of character revival ceases to become the one clinic in every town, the game is easier.

Have you ever even played the original or the PS1 remake? Because it really doesn't sound like you know what you're talking about.

erock462 wrote:

Red_Mage wrote: erock462 wrote: Red_Mage wrote: erock462 wrote: Red_Mage wrote: The remakes sucked balls. Especially the Playstation one. Yeah i guess if you really hate cleaned up and better looking graphics and the ability for more dialog, or just interesting new bosses that really test mastery of the game, or added artwork for fans. Then yes those remakes do indeed suck balls. Or a toned down difficulty that enabled most pre-schoolers to master it, and a save system that removed all nuances of planning or strategy as game play elements. In rpgs the difficulty all comes down to you. Too easy? try gaining less levels. Try using a diff setup of party. Problem solved. That's an oversimplification. When you can save on every floor of ever dungeon and get a do-over when you want, it makes it easier. When you are no longer limited to just a few casts of the life spell, it makes thing way easier. When your primary means of character revival ceases to become the one clinic in every town, the game is easier. Have you ever even played the original or the PS1 remake? Because it really doesn't sound like you know what you're talking about. Jesus. No one puts a gun to your head to use these features do they? Its like the vanish doom trick on ff 3/6 Its their and came make short work of the game but no one makes you use it. Or what about Knights of the Round. 2 casts beats the end boss. Or Orlandu on FFT. The guy is super packed and destroys everything. Yes it really is that simple. Just dont use it. How is it oversimplification? You have a porblem and i basically said ways of getting around it.

Someone's getting a bit pissy about this debate.

At any rate, between the added features, simplified magic system and nerfed enemies, the remake I played was much easier than the original no matter how you played it.

And I for one don't give a shit about the graphics. It was a great game, and for the NES, it looked just fine. A lot of greatest NES games had "unclean" graphics and are still great by today's standards.

http://www.sydlexia.com/nes100/nes02.htm

If I'm an idiot, so is Syd.

But hey, it's cool. A lot of people resort to name calling when they can only make semi-valid points.

erock462 wrote:

Red_Mage wrote: http://www.sydlexia.com/nes100/nes02.htm If I'm an idiot, so is Syd. But hey, it's cool. A lot of people resort to name calling when they can only make semi-valid points. Yeah i guess your right. Fighting chaos at lv 1 with an unbalanced party is pretty easy. Must be so much easier than doing it at lv50+ or so with a perfectly balanced party.

Much better. Now this is a real argument.

You know, you are right. You could take the time to swing past all the features, make sure you didn't buy carry anymore than the alloted items in the original, keep your levels intentionally lowered so that you had a tougher time with nerfed enemies, and carefully balance every action you make to keep things difficult, but for me, it's easier and more entertaining to just play the original game and ignore the graphics as you would playing any other retro game. It maintains the original experience without the extra work. It's all about preference as a player and to me, it's just not worth it.

As to your point that extra dungeons and whatnot tested the mastery of the game, I found my mastery quite tested by the enormous challenge that each section was, as well as the extra quests of procuring a couple weapons and beating Warmech. Add in the different parties you could use and changes along that line, there's tremendous replay value to the original without the stuff the remakes tacked on to get people to get people to buy them.

I'm not saying it's perfect, but the remakes just felt like kid's games unless you do put in the effort you mentioned to force it to be more difficult for yourself, and I take issue with that. To each his own, I guess.