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FF1 Four Monks (MSX) Part I
Oct. 1st, 2019 02:37 pmThe MSX2 was a home computer released in 1985, mostly popular in Japan and Europe. Before Nintendo came along with the Famicom, there was the MSX series. You probably best know it as the thing that had the original versions of Metal Gear 1 and 2 on it. A number of other franchises got their start on the system. Or ports or even full-on installments of games, such as the Castlevania game simply titled "Vampire Killer". Among the games to get a port include some of the first two Dragon Quest games, Ys I because of course that got ported to everything, and Final Fantasy.
So why play this? Well, the novelty, for one! This is probably the second-most obscure port of the game, behind the strange original phone version that was a bizarre chimera and difficult to find methods of playing. Second, besides possibly said version, this is the only port of the game that keeps fully faithful to the NES mechanics - four weapons/armor for each character, and an inventory of items and key items only. And third, it has a number of changes that give it its own unique brand of gameplay...
Of course the question becomes, what can we do on this version of the game that cannot be done on any other version?
Well, let's look to Black Belts, known as Monks in the Japanese version. The late FFClassic rated a party of four of them -43/10, lower than even 4 Thieves, and not so subtly calling them the worst class in the game. As Sullla established in the preamble to his Solo Black Belt, this is kinda bullshit? They hit effectively as hard as Fighters for most of the game, excepting high absorb enemies. The guy cites they don't get magic, but between spellcasting items and Fighters (which he rated 9/10) getting a laughable collection of spells that doesn't help, they're really just a different flavor at worst. He even rated 4 Thieves higher at 1/10! Many written variants and playthroughs can attest to him being uncredible about Black Belts, they are solid enough.
Except this is the MSX version. There's a pretty big change to them here: they do not get their unarmed bonuses. They do not get bonuses for fighting without weapons, and if they're without armor, their absorb will be 0. They're left with only their nunchucks, which peak very early, going unarmed, which is not good here, or the Masmune at the very end. This is therefore their worst showing amongst all the versions.
So, let's see if they truly deserve that -43/10 even in this worst case scenario. Of course one other thing opens up with this, but let's focus on this for now. It's a nice way to show and talk about some of the MSX version's changes and quirks without getting in the way of the variant too much, either.
Well I was GOING to use fictional martial artist names, imagine my surprise when Kenshiro and Ryu turned out to be rendered in Katakana and this game seems to only has Hiragana as an option. It also of course ruled out my first idea, using Metal Gear names because of course the only game on the MSX is Metal Gear. So I guess I have no choice but to do this...
In the shop, I bought weapons and armor. Many weapons have different names in the Japanese version, and in this instance, the Iron Nunchucks are simply known as Nunchaku (ヌンチャク). I grabbed some - even in other versions they usually want these at first, as well as Wooden, or rather, Leather Armor (かわよろい).
I got to fighting outside, reaching level 2. Right away, however, you can notice something's up. While the Monks in this version do not get their unarmed bonuses, they still retain their double hits. In fact, they retain them even when equipped with weapons. This means there is no reason for them to go unarmed in this version of the game.
Of course because the game was designed with them going unarmed in mind, their weapon selection is pretty atrocious. They get exactly six weapons to choose from, and only one - the Mas(a)mune - gives any Hit%.
Even in this environment, Garland is easy. There are a couple things worth talking about, however: other version differences! The Temple of Fiends, aka Temple of Chaos, uses its past version theme in the present. And I show this screenshot because of the changes to Respond Rate. Whereas 1 is very slow on the original versions, 1 is about as fast as say, 4 or 5 on the MSX. Comparatively 8 has messages stay up for like two frames, even less than on NES. It's going to make capping text boxes very annoying.
Here's another cool fix in this version: the invisible woman of Cornelia (コーネリア) is properly visible! The MSX is the only version that does this. She's just as invisible on the Famicom version, and later versions just remove her entirely.
Anyway, onward. Here's this scene on the MSX version. As another aside, the maps have some serious lag on the MSX. They're fairly slow and choppy due to it not being able to do smooth scrolling very well. It kinda really affects this version's playability.
Still not an issue. An odd change the NES version did, aside: the name of these enemies roughly translates to Sea Thief. In Hiragana, they're Kyzoku. It's the random encounter versions that are called Pirates.
Let's head over here though, as it's an excellent chance to talk about something important in regards to the MSX. The encounter system is VERY different to any other version. First, the encounters on the map have been slightly shifted. In regards to here, this means the big nasty monsters are all on the right side running all the way down. And a few of the tiles to the left are just Goblin/IMP. encounters
And second, the encounter system is unlike any other version. NES uses a step count to determine when you would get encounters and will they would be. Versions from WSC on use a setup where if you're walking on certain frames, you'll get encounters. MSX seems to use a "danger value" that ticks upward as you takes steps. So for example on NES, if you save and reload state two steps away from an encounter, it will still occur in two steps on tiles which can have encounters. And it will always be the same encounter on the table. On MSX, you'll still likely get an encounter imminently since the danger value is high, but it might not be in two steps. Furthermore, it can be a different encounter entirely.
How the danger value goes up, I'm unsure of - it does seem to start at whatever values after encounters. But during a test I periodically saved to try to avoid an encounter, and it eventually got to the point where I couldn't do so anymore - the most I got was two steps away before one showed up. Compare to other later versions where it's theoretically possible to avoid encounters entirely.
Anyway I get bodied if I try to fight here now. But I did see the 1/64. Even by them, however - that one hit with 30 base damage may be able to be shrugged off by Fighters and Red Mages, but not by those with only 5 absorb. Actually, "Armor" (アーマー) in this version
I bought a number of potions before heading out on the sea. Did end up needing them, the encounter rate is pretty nutty.
And here in Elfland - or simply the Elf Village - is where my team picked up their ultimate weapons, with two astrisks beside that. Iron Nunchaku have the highest attack power of any weapon they can equip, at 16. Item ID is 9, and their critical rate if that works in this version is 10.
Because this version of the game is based off the Famicom release, you also get things like churches instead of clinics.
Anyway, I went for a rush into the Marsh Cave, called the Swamp Cave in dialogue. There's another instance of music changing in this version here - it uses the same track used in the Ice Cave and Matoya's Cave. Strange, since the actual song is in the data.
I actually got no encounters up until around that point. The danger value setup is really weird on MSX like that. This encounter showed up twice after, however. The Bloody Bone and Crawler were noticeably more durable, and after the second I decided to run from subsequent encounters to conserve my healing.
And onto these guys with their fancy blue palette in this version, Pisco Demons. I got the lowest draw of two, but still a pain in the ass by any other name.
Amazingly, I did win this encounter, with my Monks only at level 5!! I was able to lay claim to the Crown.
Though MAAAAYBE I should've prepared better? Was right out of healing at the very end, getting back with only Ryoma alive. He was poisoned by the snakes outside, and I didn't pack any antidotes. I was completely out of healing, and didn't bring Tents - which are actually Sleeping Bags (ねぶくろ) in the original version. Yet somehow he made it back, escaping from this last encounter right away at 1HP.
Well, so far so good. May as well keep going and charge right into Astos, right? Another small change, this version doesn't play the item fanfare upon talking to him. It does that in NES because you're technically getting the CROWN. Anyway, shouldn't be too bad, right?
Ahahahahahaha. Welcome to hell, me! Astos is an infamous roadblock boss for Thieves due to not being able to break through his 40 defense. Every other class on NES has a way to deal with him: Fighters and Black Belts can accumulate enough to break it, Red and Black Mages can cast, and White Mages can silence him and cast RUSE a bunch. Except this version of the game cripples Black Belts!
I couldn't try to ride this out, either. He would eventually get around to his offensive magic, and that would easily tear my team apart.
This meant it was grinding time, and I felt there was only one place to go, even if it wasn't exactly ideal. It was still faster, when I could win anyway. I got everyone to level 9 before trying again.
It still went poorly. Piss poorly, actually - I got no critical hits at all. One weird change to add: this is Astos casting FAST/Haste (ヘイスト) here. Unlike in the NES version, there's no graphical effect for this. Was a bit confused at it at first.
The annoying thing about the peninsula grind was that my team wasn't really optimized for it. Had to reload from deaths from time to time. I should also mention saving in this version: you need two disks, the game itself and a specially formatted user disk. You need to switch to it every time you use an Inn or camping item. Loading back from it isn't nearly as swift as the NES, either.
But I made it to level 10, where my Monks would get 4-hits. If it didn't work from here, I wasn't sure what I would do.
I sailed to the Elves' land, saved, and made my way to the castle...only to have to go back when a bunch of ghouls got Koji.
Much better! The more hits you have, the more chances you have to critical. I'm still not sure if the critical hit bug was fixed on this version, or if their unique unarmed formula for them still applies like the hit doubling. Either way, I was getting a lot more of them. In fact, their damage was high enough that I'd sometimes see more damage than there were hits even without a critical.
His death spell missed, and I killed him off before he could get to his nasty spells. Phew. As another version difference aside, enemies vanish when the terminated message pops up.
With this, I could run a few key-related errands, including picking this up. The Power Staff would in almost any other scenario be just selling bait. It has 12/0 offenses, and despite only Thieves and Red Mages/Wizards being unable to equip it, other available weapons outclass it. However, besides the Masamune, it has the highest item ID of all weapons Black Belts can equip.
Documentation on this version is practically nonexistent. But if the critical hit bug still exists (and they're not using their own critical hit formula too like hit doubling), this is one of the only situations where it is genuinely useful. Only a party with multiple White Mages who must attack really have a reason to use it otherwise for the same reason. For Monks if it exists, it's slightly weaker than the Iron Nunchucks but probably more worth it due to the criticals.
A neat little detail about the MSX version is that towns on the overworld have different colored roofs. Cornelia and and the Elf Village had orange ones, but here there are blue roofs.
Anyway, I picked up Silver Bracelets, which are in fact Silver Bracelets in this version, unlike the likes of Silver Swords which are actually mythril in the original Japanese.
The going through was simple. I picked up a few chests that had good money in them. I had to fight a few Earth Elementals because of it, but since I outnumbered them, all this did was cost me some potions. What I didn't pick up however were softs, aka Golden Needles. I fled on sight of any birds that showed up in front of me.
I actually had a lot of problems with getting batblocked in my trip through the cave, including with this little prick right here. You have no choice but to back up and wait for him to get out of the tunnel, and it took like two minutes with the emulator at over 500% speed. I also got a Pisco Demon group which thankfully played nice.
Nothing to see here. I just ran over the Vampire. I had more Cockatrice encounters on the way out, at least able to make it away from them.
In the "Cave of the Stone Giant", there was another music change! This uses the Sea Shrine music in this version of the game.
This time I did make sure to stock up before going back in for the second time. One annoying thing about it though, the different encounter formula was really starting to get obnoxious. It's usually all right, but for some reason it's really awful on the sea. On the NES I'd have like 3-4 encounters, but I had over a dozen going there and coming back, that I just ran from. They're really obnoxious and not worth my time.
There was really nothing to say headed through the cave up until B4. One of my warriors got petrified along the way, but after running I healed that easily. In B4, the strange encounter system in the MSX version struck again: I got through it encounter-free through the whole floor. Only a few weak ones on B5 stood between me and Lich.
My warriors refused to get any critical hits for a while in this fight. That gave Lich plenty of time to go through his spell-progression, of which I presently had no way to counter.
My own damage was very slow to come out. If the criticals had cooperated, this would've been so much easier. I wasn't testing Power Staff at the time, I really should've had it on. Koji eventually went down when the next AoE spell came. Things were really bad, especially when the next hits did little damage.
But the rest of them decided to actually start dealing damage, and this was the final hit. One orb/crystal lit!
More small things to finish this off, in the church, characters now kneel if they're weakened, say after coming back from revivival.
And that's the first part of the game! So far, I haven't actually really been affected by this change much. At this point, my Monks have 22 attack, aside from Koji who has 23. At the same level on NES, this would be 24, albeit with a much higher critical chance. Because of the quirk of hits doubling anyway, it really meant they were actually better or as good as they would be on NES. But as the game continues, that gap is going to widen, and they're going to become a low offense class. That's when the real challenge is going to begin.
Need to check the Power Staff next time too. It'll be an easy check: if I get criticals, either the NES bug is still in play or they still use their unarmed formula for criticals. Need to actually check that with another class, preferably. In any event if it actually is fixed in all regards, the nunchucks are better due to their 10% crit rate.
Next | Index
So why play this? Well, the novelty, for one! This is probably the second-most obscure port of the game, behind the strange original phone version that was a bizarre chimera and difficult to find methods of playing. Second, besides possibly said version, this is the only port of the game that keeps fully faithful to the NES mechanics - four weapons/armor for each character, and an inventory of items and key items only. And third, it has a number of changes that give it its own unique brand of gameplay...
Of course the question becomes, what can we do on this version of the game that cannot be done on any other version?
Well, let's look to Black Belts, known as Monks in the Japanese version. The late FFClassic rated a party of four of them -43/10, lower than even 4 Thieves, and not so subtly calling them the worst class in the game. As Sullla established in the preamble to his Solo Black Belt, this is kinda bullshit? They hit effectively as hard as Fighters for most of the game, excepting high absorb enemies. The guy cites they don't get magic, but between spellcasting items and Fighters (which he rated 9/10) getting a laughable collection of spells that doesn't help, they're really just a different flavor at worst. He even rated 4 Thieves higher at 1/10! Many written variants and playthroughs can attest to him being uncredible about Black Belts, they are solid enough.
Except this is the MSX version. There's a pretty big change to them here: they do not get their unarmed bonuses. They do not get bonuses for fighting without weapons, and if they're without armor, their absorb will be 0. They're left with only their nunchucks, which peak very early, going unarmed, which is not good here, or the Masmune at the very end. This is therefore their worst showing amongst all the versions.
So, let's see if they truly deserve that -43/10 even in this worst case scenario. Of course one other thing opens up with this, but let's focus on this for now. It's a nice way to show and talk about some of the MSX version's changes and quirks without getting in the way of the variant too much, either.
Well I was GOING to use fictional martial artist names, imagine my surprise when Kenshiro and Ryu turned out to be rendered in Katakana and this game seems to only has Hiragana as an option. It also of course ruled out my first idea, using Metal Gear names because of course the only game on the MSX is Metal Gear. So I guess I have no choice but to do this...
In the shop, I bought weapons and armor. Many weapons have different names in the Japanese version, and in this instance, the Iron Nunchucks are simply known as Nunchaku (ヌンチャク). I grabbed some - even in other versions they usually want these at first, as well as Wooden, or rather, Leather Armor (かわよろい).
I got to fighting outside, reaching level 2. Right away, however, you can notice something's up. While the Monks in this version do not get their unarmed bonuses, they still retain their double hits. In fact, they retain them even when equipped with weapons. This means there is no reason for them to go unarmed in this version of the game.
Of course because the game was designed with them going unarmed in mind, their weapon selection is pretty atrocious. They get exactly six weapons to choose from, and only one - the Mas(a)mune - gives any Hit%.
Even in this environment, Garland is easy. There are a couple things worth talking about, however: other version differences! The Temple of Fiends, aka Temple of Chaos, uses its past version theme in the present. And I show this screenshot because of the changes to Respond Rate. Whereas 1 is very slow on the original versions, 1 is about as fast as say, 4 or 5 on the MSX. Comparatively 8 has messages stay up for like two frames, even less than on NES. It's going to make capping text boxes very annoying.
Here's another cool fix in this version: the invisible woman of Cornelia (コーネリア) is properly visible! The MSX is the only version that does this. She's just as invisible on the Famicom version, and later versions just remove her entirely.
Anyway, onward. Here's this scene on the MSX version. As another aside, the maps have some serious lag on the MSX. They're fairly slow and choppy due to it not being able to do smooth scrolling very well. It kinda really affects this version's playability.
Still not an issue. An odd change the NES version did, aside: the name of these enemies roughly translates to Sea Thief. In Hiragana, they're Kyzoku. It's the random encounter versions that are called Pirates.
Let's head over here though, as it's an excellent chance to talk about something important in regards to the MSX. The encounter system is VERY different to any other version. First, the encounters on the map have been slightly shifted. In regards to here, this means the big nasty monsters are all on the right side running all the way down. And a few of the tiles to the left are just Goblin/IMP. encounters
And second, the encounter system is unlike any other version. NES uses a step count to determine when you would get encounters and will they would be. Versions from WSC on use a setup where if you're walking on certain frames, you'll get encounters. MSX seems to use a "danger value" that ticks upward as you takes steps. So for example on NES, if you save and reload state two steps away from an encounter, it will still occur in two steps on tiles which can have encounters. And it will always be the same encounter on the table. On MSX, you'll still likely get an encounter imminently since the danger value is high, but it might not be in two steps. Furthermore, it can be a different encounter entirely.
How the danger value goes up, I'm unsure of - it does seem to start at whatever values after encounters. But during a test I periodically saved to try to avoid an encounter, and it eventually got to the point where I couldn't do so anymore - the most I got was two steps away before one showed up. Compare to other later versions where it's theoretically possible to avoid encounters entirely.
Anyway I get bodied if I try to fight here now. But I did see the 1/64. Even by them, however - that one hit with 30 base damage may be able to be shrugged off by Fighters and Red Mages, but not by those with only 5 absorb. Actually, "Armor" (アーマー) in this version
I bought a number of potions before heading out on the sea. Did end up needing them, the encounter rate is pretty nutty.
And here in Elfland - or simply the Elf Village - is where my team picked up their ultimate weapons, with two astrisks beside that. Iron Nunchaku have the highest attack power of any weapon they can equip, at 16. Item ID is 9, and their critical rate if that works in this version is 10.
Because this version of the game is based off the Famicom release, you also get things like churches instead of clinics.
Anyway, I went for a rush into the Marsh Cave, called the Swamp Cave in dialogue. There's another instance of music changing in this version here - it uses the same track used in the Ice Cave and Matoya's Cave. Strange, since the actual song is in the data.
I actually got no encounters up until around that point. The danger value setup is really weird on MSX like that. This encounter showed up twice after, however. The Bloody Bone and Crawler were noticeably more durable, and after the second I decided to run from subsequent encounters to conserve my healing.
And onto these guys with their fancy blue palette in this version, Pisco Demons. I got the lowest draw of two, but still a pain in the ass by any other name.
Amazingly, I did win this encounter, with my Monks only at level 5!! I was able to lay claim to the Crown.
Though MAAAAYBE I should've prepared better? Was right out of healing at the very end, getting back with only Ryoma alive. He was poisoned by the snakes outside, and I didn't pack any antidotes. I was completely out of healing, and didn't bring Tents - which are actually Sleeping Bags (ねぶくろ) in the original version. Yet somehow he made it back, escaping from this last encounter right away at 1HP.
Well, so far so good. May as well keep going and charge right into Astos, right? Another small change, this version doesn't play the item fanfare upon talking to him. It does that in NES because you're technically getting the CROWN. Anyway, shouldn't be too bad, right?
Ahahahahahaha. Welcome to hell, me! Astos is an infamous roadblock boss for Thieves due to not being able to break through his 40 defense. Every other class on NES has a way to deal with him: Fighters and Black Belts can accumulate enough to break it, Red and Black Mages can cast, and White Mages can silence him and cast RUSE a bunch. Except this version of the game cripples Black Belts!
I couldn't try to ride this out, either. He would eventually get around to his offensive magic, and that would easily tear my team apart.
This meant it was grinding time, and I felt there was only one place to go, even if it wasn't exactly ideal. It was still faster, when I could win anyway. I got everyone to level 9 before trying again.
It still went poorly. Piss poorly, actually - I got no critical hits at all. One weird change to add: this is Astos casting FAST/Haste (ヘイスト) here. Unlike in the NES version, there's no graphical effect for this. Was a bit confused at it at first.
The annoying thing about the peninsula grind was that my team wasn't really optimized for it. Had to reload from deaths from time to time. I should also mention saving in this version: you need two disks, the game itself and a specially formatted user disk. You need to switch to it every time you use an Inn or camping item. Loading back from it isn't nearly as swift as the NES, either.
But I made it to level 10, where my Monks would get 4-hits. If it didn't work from here, I wasn't sure what I would do.
I sailed to the Elves' land, saved, and made my way to the castle...only to have to go back when a bunch of ghouls got Koji.
Much better! The more hits you have, the more chances you have to critical. I'm still not sure if the critical hit bug was fixed on this version, or if their unique unarmed formula for them still applies like the hit doubling. Either way, I was getting a lot more of them. In fact, their damage was high enough that I'd sometimes see more damage than there were hits even without a critical.
His death spell missed, and I killed him off before he could get to his nasty spells. Phew. As another version difference aside, enemies vanish when the terminated message pops up.
With this, I could run a few key-related errands, including picking this up. The Power Staff would in almost any other scenario be just selling bait. It has 12/0 offenses, and despite only Thieves and Red Mages/Wizards being unable to equip it, other available weapons outclass it. However, besides the Masamune, it has the highest item ID of all weapons Black Belts can equip.
Documentation on this version is practically nonexistent. But if the critical hit bug still exists (and they're not using their own critical hit formula too like hit doubling), this is one of the only situations where it is genuinely useful. Only a party with multiple White Mages who must attack really have a reason to use it otherwise for the same reason. For Monks if it exists, it's slightly weaker than the Iron Nunchucks but probably more worth it due to the criticals.
A neat little detail about the MSX version is that towns on the overworld have different colored roofs. Cornelia and and the Elf Village had orange ones, but here there are blue roofs.
Anyway, I picked up Silver Bracelets, which are in fact Silver Bracelets in this version, unlike the likes of Silver Swords which are actually mythril in the original Japanese.
The going through was simple. I picked up a few chests that had good money in them. I had to fight a few Earth Elementals because of it, but since I outnumbered them, all this did was cost me some potions. What I didn't pick up however were softs, aka Golden Needles. I fled on sight of any birds that showed up in front of me.
I actually had a lot of problems with getting batblocked in my trip through the cave, including with this little prick right here. You have no choice but to back up and wait for him to get out of the tunnel, and it took like two minutes with the emulator at over 500% speed. I also got a Pisco Demon group which thankfully played nice.
Nothing to see here. I just ran over the Vampire. I had more Cockatrice encounters on the way out, at least able to make it away from them.
In the "Cave of the Stone Giant", there was another music change! This uses the Sea Shrine music in this version of the game.
This time I did make sure to stock up before going back in for the second time. One annoying thing about it though, the different encounter formula was really starting to get obnoxious. It's usually all right, but for some reason it's really awful on the sea. On the NES I'd have like 3-4 encounters, but I had over a dozen going there and coming back, that I just ran from. They're really obnoxious and not worth my time.
There was really nothing to say headed through the cave up until B4. One of my warriors got petrified along the way, but after running I healed that easily. In B4, the strange encounter system in the MSX version struck again: I got through it encounter-free through the whole floor. Only a few weak ones on B5 stood between me and Lich.
My warriors refused to get any critical hits for a while in this fight. That gave Lich plenty of time to go through his spell-progression, of which I presently had no way to counter.
My own damage was very slow to come out. If the criticals had cooperated, this would've been so much easier. I wasn't testing Power Staff at the time, I really should've had it on. Koji eventually went down when the next AoE spell came. Things were really bad, especially when the next hits did little damage.
But the rest of them decided to actually start dealing damage, and this was the final hit. One orb/crystal lit!
More small things to finish this off, in the church, characters now kneel if they're weakened, say after coming back from revivival.
And that's the first part of the game! So far, I haven't actually really been affected by this change much. At this point, my Monks have 22 attack, aside from Koji who has 23. At the same level on NES, this would be 24, albeit with a much higher critical chance. Because of the quirk of hits doubling anyway, it really meant they were actually better or as good as they would be on NES. But as the game continues, that gap is going to widen, and they're going to become a low offense class. That's when the real challenge is going to begin.
Need to check the Power Staff next time too. It'll be an easy check: if I get criticals, either the NES bug is still in play or they still use their unarmed formula for criticals. Need to actually check that with another class, preferably. In any event if it actually is fixed in all regards, the nunchucks are better due to their 10% crit rate.
Next | Index
