Limit Breaks
Everyone who knows any of the Final Fantasy games know limit breaks. I am curious of people's opinions of the various limit breaks.
My own opinions are restricted to FFVII and FFVIII, simply because those are the games I have played so, if I may, here is an outline of my opinions.
I saw a post on ff7, some time before I bought my copy of the game, where the poster expressed an opinion that Aeris has the best limit breaks in the game. Previously, on that same community, I had seen comments of dislike for using Aeris in the active team because of her loss halfway through. When I did play the game myself I personally came to the conclusion that her breaks are damn good - hell, free healing? What's not to love?
The best however of the lot, in my opinion, was not Great Gospel, but Fury Brand - the second of her Level Two breaks. The reason why I love this one is due to the time I spent in my first game leveling up in Junon Forest and trying to get everyone's limit breaks. Given that half of the limits have a requirement that the previous one be used a certain number of times Fury Brand was very helpful in earning those.
As for the other limit breaks... well in all honesty, Final Fantasy VII does not have a great set of limit breaks - at least not when compared to Final Fantasy VIII. Don't mistake me here though, the FF7 limits are cool to watch and all, but there is not much actual player interaction in them after they get selected.
Tifa is the only exception here, with her slot-style limit, but the rest? Select a limit and sit bad and watch a colourful move.
Final Fantasy VIII has a lot more active participation for the player in the limit breaks, first off is the component where more than just final limits are learnt from outside sources - Combat King and Pet Pals magazines, objects obtained from enemies, weapon upgrades, types of ammo -, then there is also the player interaction in the actual performance - having to hit key combos for Zell, play slots again for Selphie, or hit the trigger for Squall and Irvine.
Generally it feels more interactive than just *pick from a menu and watch* style of limit break (though FFVIII does have that in Rinoa and Quistis - and auto settings can turn Zell and Squall that way too).
As for my favourites, Well I have to say my favourite FF8 limit breaks are Shot (Irvine's) and Blue Magic (Quistis').
Irvine I love because I simply love being able to control his firing - something that probably dates back to the dim dark days when I used to play DOOM on my brother's computer. Fast Ammo is great because it is - as the name implies - fast.
Quistis I love because, if one collects up the enemy skill items for her, she has such a cool range of things she can do. Big Guard is always damn useful and Shockwave Pulsar is the damn coolest move under the sun.
Squall simply is a damn good show, when he pulls one of his finishing moves, and Lionheart is very fun to watch, especially against something like Ultima WEAPON (who I fought twice last game - due to forgetting Eden again - and both times, when Squall unleashed Lionheart, he took Ultima down). Renzokuken does have the interactive part of hitting the trigger but it's not an easy thing to time well, which is why I have it on auto this game.
Rinoa is not bad, there is something of an amusement factor of her using Angelo in her limits and Angel Wing is damn pretty but it does set Rinoa into a beserk-like state, meaning you cannot control her any longer.
Selphie has a Slot limit, but it can be rolled again which is useful but it takes time if you're trying to get a specific spell from her.
Zell I find frustrating because I have never been good at hitting combos. Back when I had a SNES and a copy of the Mortal Kombat-style game Killer Instinct it bugged me no end because I could never figure out how to pull some of the better combos. As it is, both this game and my last game I have set Zell on auto which makes things easier.
So now I would like to open discussion of other people's opinions on limit breaks, what your favourite? what not? And why?
My own opinions are restricted to FFVII and FFVIII, simply because those are the games I have played so, if I may, here is an outline of my opinions.
I saw a post on ff7, some time before I bought my copy of the game, where the poster expressed an opinion that Aeris has the best limit breaks in the game. Previously, on that same community, I had seen comments of dislike for using Aeris in the active team because of her loss halfway through. When I did play the game myself I personally came to the conclusion that her breaks are damn good - hell, free healing? What's not to love?
The best however of the lot, in my opinion, was not Great Gospel, but Fury Brand - the second of her Level Two breaks. The reason why I love this one is due to the time I spent in my first game leveling up in Junon Forest and trying to get everyone's limit breaks. Given that half of the limits have a requirement that the previous one be used a certain number of times Fury Brand was very helpful in earning those.
As for the other limit breaks... well in all honesty, Final Fantasy VII does not have a great set of limit breaks - at least not when compared to Final Fantasy VIII. Don't mistake me here though, the FF7 limits are cool to watch and all, but there is not much actual player interaction in them after they get selected.
Tifa is the only exception here, with her slot-style limit, but the rest? Select a limit and sit bad and watch a colourful move.
Final Fantasy VIII has a lot more active participation for the player in the limit breaks, first off is the component where more than just final limits are learnt from outside sources - Combat King and Pet Pals magazines, objects obtained from enemies, weapon upgrades, types of ammo -, then there is also the player interaction in the actual performance - having to hit key combos for Zell, play slots again for Selphie, or hit the trigger for Squall and Irvine.
Generally it feels more interactive than just *pick from a menu and watch* style of limit break (though FFVIII does have that in Rinoa and Quistis - and auto settings can turn Zell and Squall that way too).
As for my favourites, Well I have to say my favourite FF8 limit breaks are Shot (Irvine's) and Blue Magic (Quistis').
Irvine I love because I simply love being able to control his firing - something that probably dates back to the dim dark days when I used to play DOOM on my brother's computer. Fast Ammo is great because it is - as the name implies - fast.
Quistis I love because, if one collects up the enemy skill items for her, she has such a cool range of things she can do. Big Guard is always damn useful and Shockwave Pulsar is the damn coolest move under the sun.
Squall simply is a damn good show, when he pulls one of his finishing moves, and Lionheart is very fun to watch, especially against something like Ultima WEAPON (who I fought twice last game - due to forgetting Eden again - and both times, when Squall unleashed Lionheart, he took Ultima down). Renzokuken does have the interactive part of hitting the trigger but it's not an easy thing to time well, which is why I have it on auto this game.
Rinoa is not bad, there is something of an amusement factor of her using Angelo in her limits and Angel Wing is damn pretty but it does set Rinoa into a beserk-like state, meaning you cannot control her any longer.
Selphie has a Slot limit, but it can be rolled again which is useful but it takes time if you're trying to get a specific spell from her.
Zell I find frustrating because I have never been good at hitting combos. Back when I had a SNES and a copy of the Mortal Kombat-style game Killer Instinct it bugged me no end because I could never figure out how to pull some of the better combos. As it is, both this game and my last game I have set Zell on auto which makes things easier.
So now I would like to open discussion of other people's opinions on limit breaks, what your favourite? what not? And why?