Summary: Tried out the FFVIII Chocobo World minigame. Cool and fun premise, mind-crushingly boring gameplay.
What I Know/Expect
-The Chocobo World button has been on my FF8 launcher a while. It’s lit up in red. At first, I assumed it’d be a sequel to FF8 somehow, liked FF2’s Soul of Rebirth, but I heard later that it was instead a mini-game.
The question is: what kind of mini-game? No clue. Best guess is that it’ll be a version of the chocobo forest chicobo hunts in FF8.
Let’s give it a try.
---
Starting Up
-The help window directs me to FFVIII. Went back to my last save outside Ultimecia’s room, and headed to a Chocobo World window.
-BOKO!!!! THAT’S what he was for. Was wondering why I didn’t see him in FFVIII. So it’s a mini-game that starts Boko. Badass.
-It writes out the story. Mog (?!?!?!!?FUCKING MOG IS IN THIS GAME?!?!?! I noticed the MiniMog card in Triple Triad but didn’t put two and two together) seeks treasure in a mountain literally called Scary Mountain.
-This whole thing was Mog’s idea. Mog went to Scary Mountain alone and his friends Moomba and Cactuar…
Ok. Let me stop right here. This is ridiculously, absurdly, illegally adorable. A little moogle with a little cactuar and a little Moomba seeking treasure? Yes.
-Anyway. So Mog went alone and didn’t come back. His li’l buddies Cactuar and Moomba are worried that the Demon King (?) caught him.
-So there’s the plot. The three of us will go to Scary Mountain (can’t keep a straight face saying that) to save Mog.
-I read through the tutorial but still have no real idea from that how the game goes.
-The games appears related. If I win stuff on Boko in Chocobo World, it’ll grant rewards in FFVIII.
---
Chocobo World
-Graphics are incredibly minimalistic. It’s fine I guess, but the cartooniness of the tutorial screens got my hopes up for something a bit different, however unfair that expectation might have been.
-Boko walked on his own to an event, fought on his own, and lost. Um. Ok.
-Lost again. I don’t get it. Am I supposed to control Boko in combat?
Boko vs. random unnamed monster.
-Combat is Boko’s and the generic monster’s numbers counting down. Whichever reaches zero first gets a hit in. It consists of me rooting for Boko’s ATB (the counter) numbers to go down faster.
-No real loss penalty. Just gotta wait while Boko snoozes to recover hp.
-Won a couple of these fights, but usually Boko gets his ass kicked.
-When I win, this bingo sheet gets a ball in a random spot.
Three in a row and I level up.
-Level 2! Moomba appeared and gave me a new “weapon” (a series of lower counters)
-Oops, I was wrong. The weapon doesn’t lower my ATB counter, but rather addressed how much damage various attacks will do. Makes sense. The weapon choices this time were “3 3 0 0” or “2 2 1 1.” Not sure how this works, but I think it means that if I took the 3300 weapon, then my attacks that landed would have a 50% chance to do 3 damage and a 50% chance to do 0 damage. The 2211 weapons gives a 50% chance for 2 damage and a 50% chance for 1 damage.
[Non-rhetorical question for y’all: is this right? Also, what determines where the counters start in combat and how fast they go?
-Swapped to a 2400 weapon. Less consistent, but I’m just going with the weapon whose numbers add up to the highest sum. [later edit: wtf was I thinking? 2 2 1 1 = 2 4 lol. *bonks self* Dunno if that’s good or not, but seems like a reasonable strategy.
-At level 3 now. Each time I level up, I get a new map to wander. (Looks the same as the old map, except it has events (dots) in different places.
-Level 5. Swapped to a 6100 weapon. Boko dropping some heavy hits! Heavy pecks? Heavy kicks? Dunno. Something. Often misses, but always has a puncher’s chance.
What I Know/Expect
-The Chocobo World button has been on my FF8 launcher a while. It’s lit up in red. At first, I assumed it’d be a sequel to FF8 somehow, liked FF2’s Soul of Rebirth, but I heard later that it was instead a mini-game.
The question is: what kind of mini-game? No clue. Best guess is that it’ll be a version of the chocobo forest chicobo hunts in FF8.
Let’s give it a try.
---
Starting Up
-The help window directs me to FFVIII. Went back to my last save outside Ultimecia’s room, and headed to a Chocobo World window.
-BOKO!!!! THAT’S what he was for. Was wondering why I didn’t see him in FFVIII. So it’s a mini-game that starts Boko. Badass.
-It writes out the story. Mog (?!?!?!!?FUCKING MOG IS IN THIS GAME?!?!?! I noticed the MiniMog card in Triple Triad but didn’t put two and two together) seeks treasure in a mountain literally called Scary Mountain.
-This whole thing was Mog’s idea. Mog went to Scary Mountain alone and his friends Moomba and Cactuar…
Ok. Let me stop right here. This is ridiculously, absurdly, illegally adorable. A little moogle with a little cactuar and a little Moomba seeking treasure? Yes.
-Anyway. So Mog went alone and didn’t come back. His li’l buddies Cactuar and Moomba are worried that the Demon King (?) caught him.
-So there’s the plot. The three of us will go to Scary Mountain (can’t keep a straight face saying that) to save Mog.
-I read through the tutorial but still have no real idea from that how the game goes.
-The games appears related. If I win stuff on Boko in Chocobo World, it’ll grant rewards in FFVIII.
---
Chocobo World
-Graphics are incredibly minimalistic. It’s fine I guess, but the cartooniness of the tutorial screens got my hopes up for something a bit different, however unfair that expectation might have been.
-Boko walked on his own to an event, fought on his own, and lost. Um. Ok.
-Lost again. I don’t get it. Am I supposed to control Boko in combat?
Boko vs. random unnamed monster.
-Combat is Boko’s and the generic monster’s numbers counting down. Whichever reaches zero first gets a hit in. It consists of me rooting for Boko’s ATB (the counter) numbers to go down faster.
-No real loss penalty. Just gotta wait while Boko snoozes to recover hp.
-Won a couple of these fights, but usually Boko gets his ass kicked.
-When I win, this bingo sheet gets a ball in a random spot.
Three in a row and I level up.
-Level 2! Moomba appeared and gave me a new “weapon” (a series of lower counters)
-Oops, I was wrong. The weapon doesn’t lower my ATB counter, but rather addressed how much damage various attacks will do. Makes sense. The weapon choices this time were “3 3 0 0” or “2 2 1 1.” Not sure how this works, but I think it means that if I took the 3300 weapon, then my attacks that landed would have a 50% chance to do 3 damage and a 50% chance to do 0 damage. The 2211 weapons gives a 50% chance for 2 damage and a 50% chance for 1 damage.
[Non-rhetorical question for y’all: is this right? Also, what determines where the counters start in combat and how fast they go?
-Swapped to a 2400 weapon. Less consistent, but I’m just going with the weapon whose numbers add up to the highest sum. [later edit: wtf was I thinking? 2 2 1 1 = 2 4 lol. *bonks self* Dunno if that’s good or not, but seems like a reasonable strategy.
-At level 3 now. Each time I level up, I get a new map to wander. (Looks the same as the old map, except it has events (dots) in different places.
-Level 5. Swapped to a 6100 weapon. Boko dropping some heavy hits! Heavy pecks? Heavy kicks? Dunno. Something. Often misses, but always has a puncher’s chance.
-So… yeah, not much to say. This is the game. Tl;dr:
1)Wander the map searching for encounters.
The map.
2)If the encounter is an enemy, watch and see if you win. If it’s Moomba, pick a weapon. If it’s Cactuar, see the kind of item he gives you.
3)As you win fights, watch to see if the random number generator gets you a level-up.
4)Repeat.
It’s repetitive and unengaging. I want to beat it because why not, so popping on a new Steven Universe reaction video that just came out which is pretty awesome and playing this in the side of my screen.
Btw, the game being repetitive and boring isn’t really a devastating knock on it. To crib a phrase from someone I can’t remember (either Stephen King or Roger Ebert), being upset about this would be like yelling at a dog for not being better at calculus. It’s just a mini-game with no grander aspirations, and that’s okay.
-Upgraded from 6100 to 7000 weapon. It’s WAY better because so many enemies at this level have 7 health, so a one shot is a huge deal. Though when I hit level 8 and monsters started having 8 health, it became much worse. Note to self: err on the side of weapons with fewer zeros. A couple of levels later, got a 2221.
-Reached level 10. Let’s pop over to FFVIII to see what I got.
---
FFVIII
-Whoa, lots of stuff. AND SOME AWESOME STUFF!
-Whisper, giving Quistis the White Wind limit break. Wish I had gotten this before Ultimecia – it would DEFINITELy have helped, if it’s the same healing Blue Magic white wind from past FFs.
-Let’s try out Magic Lamp… Oh. Nothing happened. I was hoping it would give me the chance to fight SuperDiabolos or something, but no such luck. I guess it’s just if I did Chocobo World before I left Balamb and wanted Diabolos early.
-Good incentive to try out Chocobo World.
---
Chocobo World
-Came across a new enemy! A flying Ahriman-type. Level 10. It kicked my ass repeatedly, with higher health and a seemingly faster counter. I beat it once, but it doesn’t seem to give any benefit over the other enemies. Not like I get two bingo balls instead of one.
-Not much to comment on. It’s super boring. Dunno whether I’ll end up completing this. Probably, we’ll see. I’m listening to the new “Welcome to Night Vale” now. It’s great! Jr'er trggvat Snpryrff Byq Jbzna onpxfgbel!
-Wish I could rest up between fights instead of having to go into a fight with 1-2 health, dying, and wasting an event.
-Strike that. Looks like if I walk between events and don’t run, I rest up.
-The flying monsters continue to be frustrating. I hardly ever win, and since combat is random, I can’t really do much about it.
-Level 14 and yeah, I’m done. Neat premise, but just too tedious. Like playing an FF-themed slot machine.
Let’s see what my final haul was in FFVIII:
xD .jpg">
---
Next time: Hiatus for at least one week. Will wait until next Sunday to see if there’s any news on Final Fantasy IX coming out for Steam. If there is and its release is imminent, then that’s my next game!
If there’s no news, or we hear news that it’s coming out much later, I’ll play a non-FF game as a mini-break: “Chrono Trigger.” Completely unspoiled for it beyond knowing that it’s a) awesome, and b) plays with time somehow, so please don’t spoil anything. Thank you! -So… yeah, not much to say. This is the game. Tl;dr:
1)Wander the map searching for encounters.
The map.
2)If the encounter is an enemy, watch and see if you win. If it’s Moomba, pick a weapon. If it’s Cactuar, see the kind of item he gives you.
3)As you win fights, watch to see if the random number generator gets you a level-up.
4)Repeat.
It’s repetitive and unengaging. I want to beat it because why not, so popping on a new Steven Universe reaction video that just came out which is pretty awesome and playing this in the side of my screen.
Btw, the game being repetitive and boring isn’t really a devastating knock on it. To crib a phrase from someone I can’t remember (either Stephen King or Roger Ebert), being upset about this would be like yelling at a dog for not being better at calculus. It’s just a mini-game with no grander aspirations, and that’s okay.
-Upgraded from 6100 to 7000 weapon. It’s WAY better because so many enemies at this level have 7 health, so a one shot is a huge deal. Though when I hit level 8 and monsters started having 8 health, it became much worse. Note to self: err on the side of weapons with fewer zeros. A couple of levels later, got a 2221.
-Reached level 10. Let’s pop over to FFVIII to see what I got.
---
FFVIII
-Whoa, lots of stuff. AND SOME AWESOME STUFF!
-Whisper, giving Quistis the White Wind limit break. Wish I had gotten this before Ultimecia – it would DEFINITELy have helped, if it’s the same healing Blue Magic white wind from past FFs.
-Let’s try out Magic Lamp… Oh. Nothing happened. I was hoping it would give me the chance to fight SuperDiabolos or something, but no such luck. I guess it’s just if I did Chocobo World before I left Balamb and wanted Diabolos early.
-Good incentive to try out Chocobo World.
---
Chocobo World
-Came across a new enemy! A flying Ahriman-type. Level 10. It kicked my ass repeatedly, with higher health and a seemingly faster counter. I beat it once, but it doesn’t seem to give any benefit over the other enemies. Not like I get two bingo balls instead of one.
-Not much to comment on. It’s super boring. Dunno whether I’ll end up completing this. Probably, we’ll see. I’m listening to the new “Welcome to Night Vale” now. It’s great! Jr'er trggvat Snpryrff Byq Jbzna onpxfgbel!
-Wish I could rest up between fights instead of having to go into a fight with 1-2 health, dying, and wasting an event.
-Strike that. Looks like if I walk between events and don’t run, I rest up.
-The flying monsters continue to be frustrating. I hardly ever win, and since combat is random, I can’t really do much about it.
-Level 14 and yeah, I’m done. Neat premise, but just too tedious. Like playing an FF-themed slot machine.
Let’s see what my final haul was in FFVIII:
---
Next time: Hiatus for at least one week. Will wait until next Sunday to see if there’s any news on Final Fantasy IX coming out for Steam. If there is and its release is imminent, then that’s my next game!
If there’s no news, or we hear news that it’s coming out much later, I’ll play a non-FF game as a mini-break: “Chrono Trigger.” Completely unspoiled for it beyond knowing that it’s a) awesome, and b) plays with time somehow, so please don’t spoil anything. Thank you!
1)Wander the map searching for encounters.
The map.
2)If the encounter is an enemy, watch and see if you win. If it’s Moomba, pick a weapon. If it’s Cactuar, see the kind of item he gives you.
3)As you win fights, watch to see if the random number generator gets you a level-up.
4)Repeat.
It’s repetitive and unengaging. I want to beat it because why not, so popping on a new Steven Universe reaction video that just came out which is pretty awesome and playing this in the side of my screen.
Btw, the game being repetitive and boring isn’t really a devastating knock on it. To crib a phrase from someone I can’t remember (either Stephen King or Roger Ebert), being upset about this would be like yelling at a dog for not being better at calculus. It’s just a mini-game with no grander aspirations, and that’s okay.
-Upgraded from 6100 to 7000 weapon. It’s WAY better because so many enemies at this level have 7 health, so a one shot is a huge deal. Though when I hit level 8 and monsters started having 8 health, it became much worse. Note to self: err on the side of weapons with fewer zeros. A couple of levels later, got a 2221.
-Reached level 10. Let’s pop over to FFVIII to see what I got.
---
FFVIII
-Whoa, lots of stuff. AND SOME AWESOME STUFF!
-Whisper, giving Quistis the White Wind limit break. Wish I had gotten this before Ultimecia – it would DEFINITELy have helped, if it’s the same healing Blue Magic white wind from past FFs.
-Let’s try out Magic Lamp… Oh. Nothing happened. I was hoping it would give me the chance to fight SuperDiabolos or something, but no such luck. I guess it’s just if I did Chocobo World before I left Balamb and wanted Diabolos early.
-Good incentive to try out Chocobo World.
---
Chocobo World
-Came across a new enemy! A flying Ahriman-type. Level 10. It kicked my ass repeatedly, with higher health and a seemingly faster counter. I beat it once, but it doesn’t seem to give any benefit over the other enemies. Not like I get two bingo balls instead of one.
-Not much to comment on. It’s super boring. Dunno whether I’ll end up completing this. Probably, we’ll see. I’m listening to the new “Welcome to Night Vale” now. It’s great! Jr'er trggvat Snpryrff Byq Jbzna onpxfgbel!
-Wish I could rest up between fights instead of having to go into a fight with 1-2 health, dying, and wasting an event.
-Strike that. Looks like if I walk between events and don’t run, I rest up.
-The flying monsters continue to be frustrating. I hardly ever win, and since combat is random, I can’t really do much about it.
-Level 14 and yeah, I’m done. Neat premise, but just too tedious. Like playing an FF-themed slot machine.
Let’s see what my final haul was in FFVIII:
xD .jpg">---
Next time: Hiatus for at least one week. Will wait until next Sunday to see if there’s any news on Final Fantasy IX coming out for Steam. If there is and its release is imminent, then that’s my next game!
If there’s no news, or we hear news that it’s coming out much later, I’ll play a non-FF game as a mini-break: “Chrono Trigger.” Completely unspoiled for it beyond knowing that it’s a) awesome, and b) plays with time somehow, so please don’t spoil anything. Thank you! -So… yeah, not much to say. This is the game. Tl;dr:
1)Wander the map searching for encounters.
The map.
2)If the encounter is an enemy, watch and see if you win. If it’s Moomba, pick a weapon. If it’s Cactuar, see the kind of item he gives you.
3)As you win fights, watch to see if the random number generator gets you a level-up.
4)Repeat.
It’s repetitive and unengaging. I want to beat it because why not, so popping on a new Steven Universe reaction video that just came out which is pretty awesome and playing this in the side of my screen.
Btw, the game being repetitive and boring isn’t really a devastating knock on it. To crib a phrase from someone I can’t remember (either Stephen King or Roger Ebert), being upset about this would be like yelling at a dog for not being better at calculus. It’s just a mini-game with no grander aspirations, and that’s okay.
-Upgraded from 6100 to 7000 weapon. It’s WAY better because so many enemies at this level have 7 health, so a one shot is a huge deal. Though when I hit level 8 and monsters started having 8 health, it became much worse. Note to self: err on the side of weapons with fewer zeros. A couple of levels later, got a 2221.
-Reached level 10. Let’s pop over to FFVIII to see what I got.
---
FFVIII
-Whoa, lots of stuff. AND SOME AWESOME STUFF!
-Whisper, giving Quistis the White Wind limit break. Wish I had gotten this before Ultimecia – it would DEFINITELy have helped, if it’s the same healing Blue Magic white wind from past FFs.
-Let’s try out Magic Lamp… Oh. Nothing happened. I was hoping it would give me the chance to fight SuperDiabolos or something, but no such luck. I guess it’s just if I did Chocobo World before I left Balamb and wanted Diabolos early.
-Good incentive to try out Chocobo World.
---
Chocobo World
-Came across a new enemy! A flying Ahriman-type. Level 10. It kicked my ass repeatedly, with higher health and a seemingly faster counter. I beat it once, but it doesn’t seem to give any benefit over the other enemies. Not like I get two bingo balls instead of one.
-Not much to comment on. It’s super boring. Dunno whether I’ll end up completing this. Probably, we’ll see. I’m listening to the new “Welcome to Night Vale” now. It’s great! Jr'er trggvat Snpryrff Byq Jbzna onpxfgbel!
-Wish I could rest up between fights instead of having to go into a fight with 1-2 health, dying, and wasting an event.
-Strike that. Looks like if I walk between events and don’t run, I rest up.
-The flying monsters continue to be frustrating. I hardly ever win, and since combat is random, I can’t really do much about it.
-Level 14 and yeah, I’m done. Neat premise, but just too tedious. Like playing an FF-themed slot machine.
Let’s see what my final haul was in FFVIII:
---
Next time: Hiatus for at least one week. Will wait until next Sunday to see if there’s any news on Final Fantasy IX coming out for Steam. If there is and its release is imminent, then that’s my next game!
If there’s no news, or we hear news that it’s coming out much later, I’ll play a non-FF game as a mini-break: “Chrono Trigger.” Completely unspoiled for it beyond knowing that it’s a) awesome, and b) plays with time somehow, so please don’t spoil anything. Thank you!
