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Astro Toy with Rob Bricken: Final Fantasy IX Play Arts


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Monster in a box



Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 671
PostPosted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 12:48 pm Reply with quote
As someone who is probably about halfway through disc 3 in FFIX currently, the 'Crystal Hunt' line had me pretty baffled. Granted I haven't played the game in over a month at this point (I'll get back to it!), but I don't even remember crystals being mentioned.

I'm also playing FFIV. A game that you spend 75% of trying to stop Golbez from obtaining crystals.
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Axle911



Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 21
PostPosted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 1:05 pm Reply with quote
I'm with rob here. I don't know when every fan boy online started LOVING this game, but i remember it came out when i was in high school and all my jrpg loving friends (and myself) bought, played, traded and then forgot about it completely.

It just seems to me people like to stand up for it to distance themselves from the small, but overzealous ff7 cult.

Oh I've loving the new design over At TR rob Very Happy
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Cait



Joined: 29 May 2008
Posts: 503
PostPosted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 1:06 pm Reply with quote
I think Rob's talking about the promotion of FF9, which as I recall, all those years ago, was pretty intent on letting us all know that the "crystals had returned" or some such nonsense. To be honest, FF9 was the only FF I never finished, because it bored me to tears. I got all the way to the point in the game where you go off the planet or whatever and just gave up. I went back and replayed FF8, which despite having a "convoluted" gaming system at least had an interesting and truly customizable one, something I have yet to really see in any other FF franchise game. FF7 was flawed in so many ways (many technical) and 10 was far, far too easy, unless you went on any of the far, far too difficult side quests. I've also been gaming since the early NES days, so yeah, I've played all the ones that were released in the US (before this new console generation, which I'm skipping).

In any event, I only own one FF figure and it's Squall. He's way cooler looking than any of these FF9 figures, which even if I liked the game, I probably wouldn't buy after reading this review.
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Leebo



Joined: 14 Nov 2005
Posts: 660
Location: Somerville, MA
PostPosted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 1:21 pm Reply with quote
Just decided to pop in to say I had never read one of these Astro Toy columns before, I only clicked on it because I saw that it was covering FFIX toys, and I probably won't ever read one of the columns again.
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John Casey



Joined: 31 May 2009
Posts: 1853
Location: In My Angry Center
PostPosted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 3:23 pm Reply with quote
ikillchicken wrote:

Yeah...being that you opened with "Lolwut" and closed with a meme I think being 'bundled' with MetatronM's may actually bring up your image.

Just a thought here though, maybe...just maybe if you're concerned about how you're viewed, perhaps you should refrain from flying off the handle and calling people names because they...quoted you and agreed with you.


*shrug* In the wrong context, though. >_> It's kinda like putting words in somebody else's mouth. I had no intention of going on a fanbot rage, and using what I pointed out to fuel their own fanrant...yeah, I'm sorta upset that. Sorta....clearing the record! I totally disagree with him!

And lastly, don't say "off the handle"...that's what he did. I'm just a wee bit annoyed. Yeah.


Last edited by John Casey on Sun Nov 15, 2009 4:07 pm; edited 1 time in total
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ConanSan



Joined: 13 Jun 2007
Posts: 1818
PostPosted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 3:35 pm Reply with quote
I'll agree with the "Toys are crap" discussion but I will hear no ill of FFIX, sir.
Especially not when you consider what game precoded it.

Now if you want a Kusogae, there's one for the ages. The internet agreess, FF8 was awful.
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Avacado Burger



Joined: 25 Apr 2006
Posts: 85
PostPosted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 4:31 pm Reply with quote
Wow, that Zidane figure does indeed look like crap, and the so does Garnet's waist region. Decent job on the Vivi though.

And as for the game itself? Personally, I loathed FF9 I'm glad to see others who share that sentiment. It felt like a marketing project aimed at those who were alienated by 7 and 8 (trust me, you won't hear me singing praises about 8). It so much like a bastardized version of 4, that I'm surprised some executive didn't add in some mascot who spouts edgy things.
Okay, got my 2 cents in on this.
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Wyvern



Joined: 01 Sep 2004
Posts: 1544
PostPosted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 7:06 pm Reply with quote
I don't see the "giant crystal hunt" as a negative at all. Are FFVII and VIII's plots really so different? Just replace "giant crystal hunt" with "bishonen swordsman hunt" or "evil sorceress hunt" and you've got those games. In all those cases, you're wandering around a world map looking for something. Does it really make a difference if that something happens to be a shiny rock or not?

Also: Steiner is the best Final Fantasy character ever. EVER. Except for Baltheir.
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mimosa_usagi



Joined: 06 Sep 2008
Posts: 85
Location: New York
PostPosted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 7:58 pm Reply with quote
Conan-san wrote:
I'll agree with the "Toys are crap" discussion but I will hear no ill of FFIX, sir.
Especially not when you consider what game precoded it.

Now if you want a Kusogae, there's one for the ages. The internet agreess, FF8 was awful.


I’m sorry I have to disagree with you “the internet” does not agree that ff8 was awful. Sorry but I really like that game and I have met a lot of people online who also like it. you are free to have you’re opinion and I have generally been ignoring all of the bickering going on in this thread, but don’t just go around and act like every one automatically has the same opinion. I also loved ff9 but the author of the review still knew that other people might disagree; he did not state his opinion as if it were a fact. Confused
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Leebo



Joined: 14 Nov 2005
Posts: 660
Location: Somerville, MA
PostPosted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 8:02 pm Reply with quote
mimosa_usagi wrote:
Conan-san wrote:
I'll agree with the "Toys are crap" discussion but I will hear no ill of FFIX, sir.
Especially not when you consider what game precoded it.

Now if you want a Kusogae, there's one for the ages. The internet agreess, FF8 was awful.


I’m sorry I have to disagree with you “the internet” does not agree that ff8 was awful. Sorry but I really like that game and I have met a lot of people online who also like it. you are free to have you’re opinion and I have generally been ignoring all of the bickering going on in this thread, but don’t just go around and act like every one automatically has the same opinion. I also loved ff9 but the author of the review still knew that other people might disagree; he did not state his opinion as if it were a fact. Confused


I'm pretty sure he wanted to come across in pretty much the same way. That's the impression I got from likes like "Final Fantasy IX is terrible role-playing game worthy of my hate and yours."

I'm confident that he is happy the FFIX fans of the world don't like his review. I'm sure it reaffirms his opinion that their opinion is crap.
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Lucca_Ashtear



Joined: 07 Oct 2007
Posts: 68
PostPosted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 8:27 pm Reply with quote
Seeing these figures makes me thankful I had the opportunity to purchase Bandai's excellent line of Final Fantasy IX toys back during the game's initial release. The articulation was much more limited, certainly (even on Japanese toy standards) but the sculpts and paint jobs were very well done (it also included nearly every playable character [sans Beatrix Sad] which was definitely a plus. These new figurines are almost twice the size of the originals, so there's no excuse for poor construction. I hope that if a FFIX Play Arts vol. 2 is ever released, they'll fix some of the joint issues that were a problem with these figures.

Certainly these are a bit of a let down for us FFIX fans out there but it's not like Square-Enix has been neglecting Zidane and crew either. First there's the "Trading Arts", which includes Vivi in series one and Zidane in part two. Not to mention this one in his Dissidia incarnation. Had enough, yet? There's even this set of mini figures. ...All of these have been released within the past three years. So unlike the increasingly rare Bandai toys, you won't have to sell a kidney to afford them.

Now as for the actual review, as much as I enjoy this column I do tend to take Rob's opinion with a grain of salt. So even if he spends a little too much time fanboying Sephiroth, in say, a review of Kingdom Hearts figures, the guy certainly knows his stuff. That said, a write up these figures should not consist of bashing the game for the first two-thirds of the review. In the few minutes it took for me to read this, I learned nothing that I didn't already know from inspecting the figures at my local anime store for a minute. It's too bad because I ultimately agree on your verdict on these figures. I know you are capable of much better than this, Rob.
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CCSYueh



Joined: 03 Jul 2004
Posts: 2707
Location: San Diego, CA
PostPosted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 11:32 pm Reply with quote
In scrolling past that ViVi pic to read what you had to say, I couldn't get to your words for a couple minutes as I was mesmerized by the doll in a yaoi pose. I had to run thru the possibilities of whether it was the doll imitating his favorite uke or the author succumbing to an innermost dark yaoi desire (or a subliminal message he picked up from the game).
Then I get to the last pic--Krauser being carried over the threshhold after the wedding?
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ultimafullmetal



Joined: 09 Oct 2008
Posts: 70
Location: Fredericksburg, Ohio
PostPosted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 1:00 am Reply with quote
You should leave the video-game reviews to The X-Button. And the crystal is not even mentioned until the very end of the game, so maybe you should actually try to play the entire game. You might actually enjoy it with time. I know it has helped me before with games and anime.
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ikillchicken



Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Posts: 7272
Location: Vancouver
PostPosted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 1:04 am Reply with quote
MetatronM: Honestly man, I wouldn't worry too much about someone who immediately resorts to name calling just because he's "a wee bit annoyed". I think his opinion of what constitutes "flying off the handle" is somewhat skewed.

EDIT: Oh okay Zac. His comments hadn't been edited or removed or anything so I had thought the mods were leaving this one alone.


Last edited by ikillchicken on Mon Nov 16, 2009 2:37 am; edited 1 time in total
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MarzGurl



Joined: 22 Jul 2006
Posts: 142
Location: San Antonio, Texas
PostPosted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 7:15 am Reply with quote
I wish I could say I wasn't coming into this article with an opinion on Final Fantasy IX. Perhaps it would have been best to say, "I'll start by saying I don't like Final Fantasy IX, just to give you a heads-up. Now, let me discuss the toys." So much of this was telling me why I shouldn't like the game, when I guess it really should have been about the toys moreso, and when I completely understand where Square was coming from when making this game. As we all know by now... (spoiler for a bunch of crap you don't care about) spoiler[it was the last game on their third generation of consoles, paying tribute to old games past. It wasn't until the very end that anything about crystals was ever brought up. I know people didn't understand the chibi character design thing, but it surprises me that the author states he didn't like this when he has appeared to enjoy Final Fantasies of the NES and SNES generations, seeing as how that's kinda why they chose the design - paying tribute to old sprites. I found IX to be one of the most touching of any of the games in the numerical series, and I don't think it's fair to judge a game when you've only played maybe an hour of it, and the game has the possibility of being 60 hours long. VIII, in my opinion, was quite pretentious despite its large newer generation fanbase and made far less sense than IX did. And actually, Nomura's belt-and-zipper artwork DOES leave a sour taste in my mouth, where as Amano's watercolor designs sell artbook after artbook and fills museum exibition halls. What was it that made this game so easy for people to hate? Was it that it was so bright and colorful and easier to snuggle instead of being emo to cater to the same crowd that has fans of Twilight believing that story is actually well-written? The only thing missing from that rant was, "At least they said Cloud and Squall's names in the game, that was the best part."]

BUT, I'll agree that these toys in the series were quite terrible in quality when compared to others from each of the other games. As well as being over-priced. I had been looking for Final Fantasy figures for quite some time, and stumbled across them before reading this article. As thrilled as I was initially to find them, looking at them and their quality and thinking of them up on my shelf next to others of similar nature made me quite sad, and so I held off on their purchase.

I think it's nice to warn us that the game or anime that the toy is from is not one that the reviewer is particularly fond of. However, I think it's also MORE fair to skip the hatred for the series (since I am not expecting a review of the game from a toy reviewer) and just get straight to the point with the toy. As it was written, it tugged at my personal emotions and opinions too early and made me less willing to read the toy review because of it. Though, in the end, I'm glad I did. I'm sorry, it was just... difficult.

Also, I don't think it's fair to "judge" or "review" a video game that you didn't play. For example, I would be a terrible judge of Devil May Cry, having played very little of the game. While I don't see myself playing more of it or the rest of the series, I just wouldn't ever tell my viewers/readers that the game was either good or bad, because I would not be a good judge.
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