All-Purpose Final Fantasy Thread

[samabam]

I feel like you've listed so many pivotal, game-making strengths that you kind of DO entirely get the love for it.

Presentation-wise, it's the strongest FF game, IMO. Timeless visuals/designs, art direction, music, interfaces, etc. Charming, well defined characters, without anything else being straight up broken, terrible, or moronic. That's going to be enough to win a lot of people over.

and it is a good game, I am not arguing that.
But what I don't get is why some people put it above the other FF releases of that time, I just don't see what destinguishes it from VII, VIII or even X to make it that much better.

 

[Shareefruck]

and it is a good game, I am not arguing that.
But what I don't get is why some people put it above the other FF releases of that time, I just don't see what destinguishes it from VII, VIII or even X to make it that much better.

I agree that it doesn't do any one stand out thing exceptionally, but I think it just comes down to it doing everything well, without having any glaring flaws/holes, which the others arguably do.

It doesn't have the bombardment of poor mini-games or the dated feel that some people think VII does (I don't), it doesn't have the bland characters and underdeveloped/convoluted/sometimes nonsensical story that VIII does, and it doesn't have the cheese and awful dialogue/voice acting that X does. On top of that it looks and feels really great/polished/well presented.

I definitely don't understand anyone who prefers IX to VI though. They share a few similarities, but VI does just about everything significantly better.

 

[samabam]

It does not do anything exceptionally, the side content is meh and in my opinion the combat is awful. For me that results in the weakest FF in the PSone era

 

[McRpro]

I've played FF games since the original when my friend brought it over to my place when I was 10. It was the first turn based rpg I had ever played and it seemed incredibly boring at first. 20 minutes later and I was hooked!

I don't feel like writing a novel on my FF experiences but I will say that XIII killed the series for me. That game was a travesty, a huge pile of Chocobo shit! I tried XV and, nope. This isn't IMO what FF should be.

My favorite in the series is IV and that may be because of nostalgia but I just love that game. Of course I'm omitting XI, which I played an ungodly amount.

 

[JesusPrice]

I have enjoyed reading through the thread, nice to read through other peoples experiences with my second favorite series out there (toss up for me between this and Fire Emblem)

One thing I have come to have more appreciation for since I started re-playing through the series (am at VI currently), is my appreciation for IV. Playing through I, II, and III it really makes me see how much of a leap IV was, how the story line improved over time and how they really took the best parts of each of its predecessors and threw it into one amazing game. Has brought my appreciation for it up by boat loads.

Looking forward to playing VIII and IX again since I haven't played them since their release year. Never played anything after that either so it shall be a time

 

[Big McLargehuge]

One of these days I'll give IV the attention it deserves.

One of these days. Someone stole my copy of FF Chronicles and I just never got around to playing a different version (mostly because chibi crap annoys the piss out of me, so the DS re-make was out)....aaaaaaaaand now I see that the PSP collection is available digitially on the Vita for $15, so chuck that onto the backlog.

 

[X66]

The best Final Fantasy game in decades is releasing in September.

Dragon Quest XI



I will still always play FF games when they come out just because I'm committed to the franchise. The last truly great one I played was XII, I've contemplated buying the collector's edition for on on the square enix store, but I missed when it was $100USD off, it's back up to $200 now.

I'm still sour over how garbage the last third of FFXV was, it was god awful. The game started off great IMO but it ran into a similar problem that other JRPGs like Xenoblade run into where you want to explore the world and run into tough monsters/side quests, but by the time you get back to the main story you're incredibly over levelled.

As always, my fav FF games

VI
IV
IX
XII
Tactis

 

[The Crypto Guy]

The best Final Fantasy game in decades is releasing in September.

Dragon Quest XI



I will still always play FF games when they come out just because I'm committed to the franchise. The last truly great one I played was XII, I've contemplated buying the collector's edition for on on the square enix store, but I missed when it was $100USD off, it's back up to $200 now.

I'm still sour over how garbage the last third of FFXV was, it was god awful. The game started off great IMO but it ran into a similar problem that other JRPGs like Xenoblade run into where you want to explore the world and run into tough monsters/side quests, but by the time you get back to the main story you're incredibly over levelled.

As always, my fav FF games

VI
IV
IX
XII
Tactis

Game looks absolutely amazing. Can't wait to play a traditional real JRPG game again.

 

[RandV]

The best Final Fantasy game in decades is releasing in September.

Dragon Quest XI

Yeah Dragon Quest today is a big middle finger to the Final Fantasy series, where they've been able to keep up their success without changing the fundamental formula. It even goes as far that even the more modern ones starting with VIII (not sure about X which is an MMO?) the game could be 'devolved' into PS1, SNES, and NES tech and still work flawlessly.

The decline of the genre is a real shame. The PS1 gen was great but they could be pretty flawed in that due to the CD's there were often long loading times and with the switch devs got into the habit of excessive battle animations. PS2 era fixed it, but with the increased technology the genre switched to being a little too Japanese as so many became teen targeted anime games which made them really niche over here.

 

[X66]

Yeah Dragon Quest today is a big middle finger to the Final Fantasy series, where they've been able to keep up their success without changing the fundamental formula. It even goes as far that even the more modern ones starting with VIII (not sure about X which is an MMO?) the game could be 'devolved' into PS1, SNES, and NES tech and still work flawlessly.

The decline of the genre is a real shame. The PS1 gen was great but they could be pretty flawed in that due to the CD's there were often long loading times and with the switch devs got into the habit of excessive battle animations. PS2 era fixed it, but with the increased technology the genre switched to being a little too Japanese as so many became teen targeted anime games which made them really niche over here.

Yup, and that was further proven with the 3DS release of DQXI in Japan. It largely received the same reviews as the console version because of that formula.

Too bad we won't be getting that in North America.

 

[syz]

The best Final Fantasy game in decades is releasing in September.

Granblue Fantasy came out 3 years ago though.

 

[Jovavic]

One of these days I'll give IV the attention it deserves.

One of these days. Someone stole my copy of FF Chronicles and I just never got around to playing a different version (mostly because chibi crap annoys the piss out of me, so the DS re-make was out)....aaaaaaaaand now I see that the PSP collection is available digitially on the Vita for $15, so chuck that onto the backlog.

As someone who has played all versions of IV, I can tell you that the PSP version is easily the best

 

[Rodgerwilco]

I have enjoyed reading through the thread, nice to read through other peoples experiences with my second favorite series out there (toss up for me between this and Fire Emblem)

Same here, I like the way the thread has gone. A lot of fresh perspectives from other people on some of my favorite games. So cool to see how many different answers people have in terms of which one is their favorites and their experiences with the games.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

I'm still on my way through the FFX HD Re-Master right now, just finished Zanarkand and got the Airship and have been powering up Celestials.

For the first time ever, I actually dodged the 200 lightning bolts and powered up the Onion Knight first of any of the Celestials. I wanted it to be my first one so that I didn't put it off like I usually do.

Had my first experience with a Dark Aeon too, and it didn't go well. I was going back to Besaid to get Al Bhed Primer II which I missed and upon re-entering the town, I was approached by some guy calling me and infidel, followed by getting game over'd in 3 turns... lol.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

I really feel like playing an FF again, but it would likely be IV or IX, my favourites.

Or at least some traditional RPG...

 

[Rodgerwilco]

I really feel like playing an FF again, but it would likely be IV or IX, my favourites.

Or at least some traditional RPG...

If you're a fan of FFX, I'm really liking the HD Re-Master on ps4, I'd recommend it especially if you've never played the International version of the game.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

If you're a fan of FFX, I'm really liking the HD Re-Master on ps4, I'd recommend it especially if you've never played the International version of the game.

I bought FFX years ago and I'm pretty sure it's still in the wrapping.

I never got around to it.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

I bought FFX years ago and I'm pretty sure it's still in the wrapping.

I never got around to it.

Ah I see, it's my second favorite FF after VII.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Ah I see, it's my second favorite FF after VII.

I haven't played any FFs past IX though X at least looks intriguing.

VII is alright but I played it years after it released (and after IX at that) so the graphics are hard to look at.

Interested in the remake but cautiously optimistic.

 

[Shareefruck]

The only thing that I dislike about IV is how

Spoiler

they completely undo all of the sacrifices made throughout the game at the very end of the game for the sake of forcing a happy ending.

That really cheapens what would have otherwise felt like a masterpiece on the level of VI. Pretty much all of the other ones have at least one or two glaring flaws/weaknesses that take away from how perfect the experience feels, IMO.

Other than maybe.... Tactics? I can only think of minor, quality-of-life-frustrations (like how you can potentially get stuck with an unwinnable save file and have to start all over) with that one.

 

[syz]

Granblue Fantasy came out 3 years ago though.

Also Uematsu's still good.

 

[RandV]

Granblue Fantasy came out 3 years ago though.

I have a really hard time believing that a mobile game complete with a gacha system can compete with a console single player title.

Either way I was never really even sure about how to even play the game. I think last year I managed a bit and started playing with the game translated to English, but the translations only seemed to last a little ways into the game.

 

[misterchainsaw]

The only thing that I dislike about IV is how

Spoiler

they completely undo all of the sacrifices made throughout the game at the very end of the game for the sake of forcing a happy ending.

That really cheapens what would have otherwise felt like a masterpiece on the level of VI. Pretty much all of the other ones have at least one or two glaring flaws/weaknesses that take away from how perfect the experience feels, IMO.

Other than maybe.... Tactics? I can only think of minor, quality-of-life-frustrations (like how you can potentially get stuck with an unwinnable save file and have to start all over) with that one.

I do agree with you on IV, but I have similar issues with the entire second half of VI, so for me IV still ends up ahead. But that's probably the one thing that keeps IV off of the FFVII/Chrono Trigger/Grandia elite tier of early RPG's for me.

 

[Shareefruck]

I do agree with you on IV, but I have similar issues with the entire second half of VI, so for me IV still ends up ahead. But that's probably the one thing that keeps IV off of the FFVII/Chrono Trigger/Grandia elite tier of early RPG's for me.

Really, how?

Spoiler

The characters that die stay dead, don't they? I know Shadow and Cid can die, and those are great moments. I don't remember the ending in detail, but doesn't the world remain in ruins, and everyone's just left to pick up the pieces and make do with what they have?

 

[misterchainsaw]

Really, how?

Spoiler

The characters that die stay dead, don't they? I know Shadow and Cid can die, and those are great moments. I don't remember the ending in detail, but doesn't the world remain in ruins, and everyone's just left to pick up the pieces and make do with what they have?

I didn't mean in terms of the story details, I just meant that the latter portion of the game knocks it down a tier for me. I found the whole open world find everybody again aspect tedious and boring. I didn't care nearly enough about anywhere near enough of the characters. VI is actually one of the few FF's I haven't beaten (only joined by VIII and XV among official releases in the states).