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Classics Are Always Better When You’re Cheating

Classics Are Always Better When You’re Cheating

When I played through Final Fantasy VII for the first time, it took me about 76 hours to complete the game. That’s what my memory card tells me, anyway. I’m not saying that 76 hours represents an average, but it is about what I would expect from anyone who wanted to play through most of the side quests, find the ultimate weapons, raise a golden chocobo, and find the “Knights of the Round Table” summon materia. Every true Final Fantasy VII fan will know how important all of those things are. Thankfully I played through that game when I was ten years old, and I didn’t have any commitments or obligations when I got home from school.

I’m not ten years old anymore. I just turned 28, I write tons of articles like this one so I can sustain my pro athlete lifestyle, and I also try to manage a humble social life. I don’t have time for 70-hour games anymore, which is a shame because there are so many fantastic RPGs that I never got around to playing. Grandia II, Skies of Arcadia, Final Fantasies IV, VI, IX, and XII, Persona 3 … the list actually goes on for quite a while, and all of these games call out to me with some urgency. I’d love to play through and experience these stories, but I just don’t have the time.

That’s why baked-in cheats are such a godsend. What Square Enix has been doing with some of its Final Fantasy re-releases is absolutely brilliant, and I think it’s something we need to see more of. Take Final Fantasy VII on the PS4, for example: you get the same, great game along with what I call a “cheat suite.” There are a few enhancements on the PS4 version to help players play through the story quite a bit faster than originally possible.

With a tap of the right thumb-stick you can speed the game up by 3X, which is perfect for quickly getting across huge portions of the world map that you may have to backtrack through. The nice advantage to doing this in the paid version as opposed to an emulator is when you speed up the gameplay, the music and sound effects actually stay the same and won’t get distorted; such a nice touch. A click of the left thumbstick maxes out your party’s HP, MP, and limit break meters. This is straight up cheating, and I honestly never triggered this option during boss fights. It’s really just there to make grinding less of a chore. Need to bump up a few levels before the next boss fight, or need some extra gil? Trigger your power more, speed things up 3X, and blast through a bunch of battles. You can finish in 5 minutes what might have otherwise consumed upward of half an hour.

Classics Are Always Better When You’re Cheating

Of course, one of the most frustrating things about going back to some of those old-school JRPGs are the random encounters. Simple, short trips can be turned into grueling slogs as you’re forced to tap X repeatedly through multiple encounters. With the cheat suite, just click both thumb-sticks to disable random encounters and you’re good to go. Now you can freely explore your surroundings, search for treasure, or get to the next cutscene without being incessantly stalled.

Square Enix has done this for Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy IX , they’re doing it again for Final Fantasy XII, and I guarantee that once you play through an older game with these options available to you, you’ll never want to go without them again. Purists will of course be up in arms over the whole thing, insisting that going through with cheats isn’t truly experiencing the game at all, but what you have to understand is that these can always be left alone. That’s why I think every re-release going forward should have this option. The original game experience is there if you want it. Just don’t toggle any of the cheats. If you’re low on time and really want to experience a game that is otherwise prohibitively lengthy, some of these enhancements can seriously reduce the amount of time you’d have to otherwise pour into monotonous grinding and random encounters.

Hell, I think cheat suites might even have a place in games of different genres as well. How cool would it be to play through Mega Man X or Super Castlevania IV with some simple Game Genie cheats available at the click of a button? For casual gamers who are short on time, this would be incredible, and I guarantee that many would be willing to pay a small premium for older games with these features. I know I would, anyway. What about you guys? Do these modern cheats have a place in these classic games? Is is the perfect way to enjoy that big RPG you missed out on, or does it completely ruin the experience? Chime in below and let us know what you think.

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