Final Fantasy Thread

FFIX is my second-fave in the series. FFX being my top.

I thought FFVIII was okay, up until halfway through. Then the melodrama and hackneyed plot twists just became too stupid.
 
Final Fantasy Tactics is my top favorite and it's not even a part of the main series. FFIX gets a close second.

Another FF game I think gets a lot of undeserving hate is the most recent one FFXII.

Even though the series gets more praise than it deserves IMO, I have enjoyed a lot of the games.
 
1. FFIV
2. FFVI
3. FFX

I count count FFTactics though it would be my favorite game if I did. I only really tend to count the Roman numeral Final Fantasies, and I don't even count FFXI.

I have heard that FFVIII does not get enough love, but almost everyone on this board seems to show that they really like it. I am not at all afraid to say that I am one of the people that doesn't like FFVIII. It is not a bad game, in fact, it is most likely one of the better ones. I just did not like the characters. The Final Fantasy series for the most part has been very character oriented, like most Japanese RPGs. If you didn't like Squall, and if you didn't relate with him, then you probably won't like the game. I personally thought that his transformation as a character was bleh, but that is my opinion there.

I never played FFXII or even saw it really. It came out at a time where I wasn't really that concerned or into Final Fantasy. I like the FFTactics team more than the regular Final Fantasy team, so I am curious to see how that game was. I basically heard that the differences between XII and the other games caught people off guard, and that it was widely forgettable in comparison to earlier ones. I would like to defend it, but I really can't now.
 
i loved XII, ad from what i have read, most people didnt like it just because they werent fond of the gambit system and prefered the turn-based gameplay. I just think people didnt know how to utilize it. i personally was a fan of this gambit system. also, i will admit that the character development in XII was quite bland. Panelo had almost no reason to even go with Vaan besides being a friend, but even then there was no development between characters whatsoever. it seemed like everyone was on their own little path and just happen to cross with each other. I must say though, i really liked Balthier and Fran's connection with each other. Ashe and Fran's personalities are amongst my favorites also.

my top is really close. I'm one of the only few that was a fan of IX. Yes, Zidane was retarded in first half of game but when his character changed i liked him a lot more. The final scenes of where "You're Not Alone" was playing and he sped through to find Kuja remains as one of the most memorable FF moments to me. Not to mention i really liked the ending, despite the fact i didn't really like garnets character as much. As childish as the game might have been, which turned away a lot of the fans, i liked it. Beatrix also tops my favorites list, even though she was a side character.

So, my list goes

1) FF VI (III in US)
2) FF IX
3) FF XII
4) FF VIII
5) FFX

not that the others were bad or anything, i enjoyed them all.
 
i own 1,2,3,4,7,8,9,10,10-2, and 12. 7,8 and 10 were my favorites. now to wait for dissidia: final fantasy on psp. and i dont think the KH series counts as final fantasy does it?
 
I agree with Rei that Squalls 'transformation' (character development) was incredibly weak. He was rather 2 dimensional; however as I stated in another thread I really enjoyed his character for the inner monologues and responses that he chooses not to give people. The whole Rinoa thing kinda confused me as I couldn't really tell if they liked eachother until it was slammed right in your face.

I don't hate FFVII, in fact I think it's a damn good game when I gave it the proper chance. I never got round to taking it seriously back when it was first released and overwhelming hype since then has just bittered my taste for it. However when I did get round to playing through it I could see why so many would hold it in such high regards. However, I still think Cloud is a poor character...like I'm supposed to feel sorry for him when he's just a fucking tool.

Sephiroth is another reason I have a bitter taste. The fanboy boner-rage people get from this character is somewhat confusing. The dude was plain ol crazy. Crisis Core did develop his human, compassionate side more thoroughly....however the original FFVII only shows you a small portion of a closed off, jerkoff of a character anyway. I know he was supposed to be like the tragic hero but he just came off as psycho-power-hungry nutjob with a big sword...

and I think that's all people will remember, a big sword, where he does 9999 damage while Cloud *cough* Zack was supposedly beneath him.

Oh, FFVIII card game, summoning GFs and using BOOST (TAP SQUARE TAP SQUARE), R1 trigger for MOARDAMMIJ, and time paradoxes own you.
 
Wow. It's a surprise to see FFVIII getting some love. Mostly everywhere I go, it's bashed down to the ground. It's definitely my favorite, along with X. I just fell in-love with X's story, which IMO, was quite well done.

XII definitely kind of disappointed me though. It had lots of content but just severely lacked in everything else, including good characters ('save Balthier, Basch..maybe Ashe) and good story. Tried too hard to be serious..

Hopefully, XIII will not be the same. :D
 
I have played nearly all the FF games but my top 3 are 6, 9 and then a tie between 10, 4 and 8.

I really liked FF8's story up until Ultimecia showed up, then the story just sank. It was at its best when it was the Seed vs. Galbadia/Edea. Squall's transformation, I agree, was pretty weak. I thought Rinoa was an awful female lead and often wondered how did he fall for her. I liked him better as a lone wolf.

I don't see a lot of people who have, but has anyone played through FF5? Weak story aside, I thought the job system was good, sucks that all the good abilities took for an eternity to learn. Oh and Gilgamesh.

If I could list favorite characters of mine from the series, it'd go: Tidus, Yuna, Zidane, Terra and Yuffie.
 
6 is definitely one of my favorite games of all time. Of the series, definitely had the best music, and awesome characters. The bosses were total pushovers with most having around 40k health but the game itself was a landmark in that it was finally breaking away from the "excuse to just go kill a lot of monsters" that defined the genre.

7 gets a lot of hate just because its really popular, and people think its cool to hate popular things. Whatever the case, it was a solid game, and if you are expecting pulitzer prize winning stories, then video games aren't the best place to find them. Imo, most storyline bitching is kind of lame, considering how i've yet to play a game with anything close to a deep and though provoking plot.
 
Japanese RPGs became story book RPGs. Story cannot be ignored. Some games don't need story, but some games specifically aim to have a good story. I don't need a deep plot when playing Mario Galaxy, but I would like an RPG to have an immersing story line.

I merely saw a taste of of FFV. I didn't actually see it or play through it. My brothers did and all that I saw was that is was actually challenging. My critique with most FF games is that they were dirt easy. There was no satisfaction in playing an easy game if you could watch it and get the story. The job system in FF5 was complicated and well done. It was a shame they ever changed in future games.
 
Final Fantasy 5 is hard. Not as brutal as the original FF but one where you sometimes need a combination of good luck, power leveling and good strats to live. Oh and a stupid super boss hidden in a chest, in the final area far away from a save point no less.
 
There's a big difference between an immersing story and a deep story. I love the story in ff6 for example, but I would hardly call the story good from a literary standpoint. I would argue that the typical jrpg storyline is 2-dimensional, cliche, and shallow. That hardly means that the story is not enjoyable, it just means that you really shouldn't bitch about how shallow a character cloud is when pretty much every other rpg protagonist is just as bad, if not worse.

The fact of the matter though for jrpgs is that the story is really just a device that justifies the killing of a lot of monsters and bosses, and becoming uber and overpowered in the process. What makes the games particularly memorable is really just a matter of how attached you got to the characters. At that point, then you feel like there's actually a reason why you should be killing all these monsters.
 
You make a good point, but I still don't see how that should stop people from complaining. If a story isn't enjoyable or immersive, then it is a weakness for the game. I honestly figured that was the basis of judgment from the beginning. This obviously applies to characters also.

I don't read too much literature. I prefer to read historical non-fiction and journals rather than novels.

Difficulty makes a win feel worth while. I will admit that I get frustrated pretty quickly when things are hard, but it actually brings a sense of satisfaction. FF1 wasn't hard is you used monks. The FF games are too easy. I am a fan of being overpowered, but there is no point in being overpowered if the game is so easy that you can't die unless you make stupid mistakes.
 
Crisis Core was stupidly easy. THAT ruined it for me. I'm not a fan of being owned every fucking boss I get to. This happened to me alot in FFIV...it felt so grindtastic that it got tedious.

Whereas Crisis Core was the complete opposite; little effort was taken and yet I was stupidly overpowered for a good three quarters of the game. By which point I was just playing for the story - and it was satisfying....but gameplay wise I had grown tired of it because it was simply mash X til everything was dead.

Strategy, and a sense that the enemy is powerful always helps; and I suppose that was what was so great about FFVIII since enemies levels were proportionate to yours.
 
oh god, don't remind me. On ff VIII, i was an idiot and used the lamp when i was lvl 80. Diablos was literally, A BITCH. 2nd playthrough, i used it right when i got it haha.
 
Jlikew00t said:
Strategy, and a sense that the enemy is powerful always helps; and I suppose that was what was so great about FFVIII since enemies levels were proportionate to yours.
Click to expand...

FFVIII did that, but it was still perhaps the easiest of them all. My only complaint about that game that I feel is objective was about how stupidly broken the draw system was. If you knew how to abuse that early on, then you were basically invincible until Omega Weapon.

FFVIII was soo easy that it was unfair to what you were fighting. Enemies leveled up with you. But somewhere, that got lost in the brokeness of the gameplay.

awesome card game though
 
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