Sorry for the sluggish posting this past week. I leave tomorrow for Japan, and I’ve been scrambling to get ready to depart. Things are still moving forward here, though.

I have started Final Fantasy V, and I’ve written some notes about it. I’ve also written the review for Final Fantasy IV. I’m going to do my best to start posting once I get to Japan, but my internet access may be spotty.

In any case, I’m still here, just a bit scattered for the next couple of weeks. I’ll try to make the next post on June 13.

A few readers have posted that this may be an impossible task to complete accurately, but we were able continue our quest of keeping track of the total number of goblins killed in our Final Fantasy adventure. This was an easy task to do in Final Fantasy IV, as we have an easily accessible bestiary that records all our kills. Unfortunately, Final Fantasy IV had a rather tame sampling of goblins, and comes no where close to the impressive totals of the first two games.

Still, we picked up over 200 kills of goblin-like creatures, giving us a grand total that is closing in on 2,000.

The Goblin Graveyard
Final Fantasy IV Goblin Kills
Goblins: 125
Demovoi: 100
Goblin Captains: 10
Total: 235

Final Fantasy III Goblin Kills
Goblins: 26
Total: 26

Final Fantasy II Goblin Kills
Goblins: 320
Goblin Guards: 207
Goblin Princes: 3
Total: 530

Final Fantasy I Goblin Kills
Goblins: 230
Goblin Guards: 127
Black Goblins: 628
Total: 985

Grand Total: 1,776 Goblins Killed to Date!

(Edit: Fixed name of Demo Boys to Demovoi. Thanks, Hero of Lore)

Four games finished! With Zeromus dead, Final Fantasy IV gets a big check mark beside it, and I can head on to Final Fantasy V. Before I start that, though, I wanted to make a quick post summing up the adventure so far.

Here’s a look at some of the numbers…

Gaming Time
Final Fantasy IV: 46 hours, 04 minutes

Previously
Final Fantasy III: 55 hours, 04 minutes
Final Fantasy II: 55 hours, 11 minutes
Soul of Rebirth: 9 hours, 47 minutes
Final Fantasy I: 46 hours, 23 minutes
Grand Total to Date: 211 hours, 19 minutes

Amazingly, despite taking nearly eleven months to finish, Final Fantasy IV took the least time to complete of the four Final Fantasy games so far. This is a bit misleading, however, as I easily spent another five hours in that endless series of attempts to beat that black orb and in making three catastrophic runs to the final boss. Even with that included, however, Final Fantasy IV would end up taking the least time of the games so far.

The Cheat Record
Final Fantasy IV: 0
Final Fantasy III: 1
Final Fantasy II: 2
Final Fantasy I: 3

The cheat record tally is my best guess on this game, but I don’t recall having to look up anything to figure out what to do next. I got confused at times, but managed to stumble my way through things. I realize there is stuff that I missed, but I was able to hang on to the main story without resorting to any clear cheats. Sometimes, I do confess, I was following a path with some uncertainty, and then I’d read a comment that confirmed I was on the right path, but I don’t think I would have changed course at any point anyway.

For a neat collection of official Final Fantasy IV wallpapers from Square Enix, see this page on FF Final Fantasy. The artwork, as would be expected, is top notch.

Apparently these were released as part of the build up for the new DS version of Final Fantasy IV, which released on December 20, 2007 in Japan. The game, by the way, has garnered a 3.5 (out of 5) rating on Amazon Japan, with 168 customer reviews as of today.

Thanks to regular poster Edjemaster for this information about Gametrailers.com’s excellent 13-part Final Fantasy Retrospective series. This video series takes a look back in time and follows the Final Fantasy series through its origins and history. Currently, the first five parts have been released, and new segments are added weekly.

I watched the first two parts this morning. Each video segment is about 10 minutes long. The content and production quality are top-notch. If you’re a fan of Final Fantasy, these are not to be missed.

EDIT: I should also mention that spoilers abound in the videos, so if you haven’t played a particular Final Fantasy game yet, you may want to hold off on watching that particular element.

Enjoy!