# Final Fantasy



## Philip Overby (Feb 26, 2012)

Any Final Fantasy fans?  What's your favorite in the series?  Favorite characters?

My Top 5 ranking is as such:

1.  FF 6:  Best ensemble cast, best storyline, cool steampunk sort of world.  Awesome Espers system.  Mechs.  Most insane villain in Kefka.

2. FF 4:  Awesome story.  Pretty cool characters including Kain the dragoon, one of my all time favorites.  Recently replayed this on PSP's collection.

3.  FF 1:  The original.  Fighter, monk, white mage, black mage.  My default party!

4.  FF 9:  Throwback to the old days.  Great overall.

5.(Tie)  FF 7:  Most everyone's number 1 for various reasons.  It's good but not as good as those I've listed earlier.  Materia system is awesome and has an eclectic cast of characters.  And Sephiroth ranks as a top villain in the series.

5.  (Tie) FF 10:  Nice game but with sort of a weird storyline.


I like the most recent ones, FF 12 and 13, but I don't rank them in my top 5.   

P.S.  I have an article coming up that discusses Final Fantasy's future that may pique some interest.  Check it out when it's post next month.


----------



## Sparkie (Feb 26, 2012)

Oooh!  I like this thread.

My top five:

1.  FF X:  Tidus sucks, I think, but everything else about this title rocks.  (I perfer to think of Yuna as the true center of this story.)  Turn-based battle systems tend to catch a lot of flack these days, but this engine is my favorite in the series.  A little water symbolisim helps, plus there's a bit of not-so-disguised commentary on whan can happen when the church _becomes_ the state.

2.  FF VIII:  This game was the first title I bought after taking a six year long hiatus from electronic RPG's, and it re-ignited my love for gaming.  Yes, the tutorials are arduous (as well as a few characters,) but this game is still one of my favorites.

3.  FF VI:  To this day, no other game has generated so much discussion and cooperation among my friends.  We would call and visit each other just to compare strategies and write childish fanfic.  This is the FF entry that deserves a remake.

4.  FF IX:  A game that mixes the best aspects of two eras of gaming.  Why doesn't Square Enix make another game like this?  I'd play it in a heartbeat.  Aside from a lack of a terrific main baddie, I think this title has the best overall cast of characters of any entry in the series.

5:  FF XI:  I know, I know.  It's not a 'real' FF game, but I don't care.  I really enjoyed the time I spent leveling out at Valkurm Dunes, and I met some great folks in the process.  Not the best MMO.  Still, it's fun, and what else really matters when it comes to games?

As for my favorite character, I guess it's a three-way tie between Vivi, Squall, and Sabin.

Anyone else think FF VII is a bit too highly praised?


----------



## Philip Overby (Feb 26, 2012)

I forgot to mention favorite characters.  I'd say Kain, Kefka, and Locke.  

FF 7 is definitely good, but I don't think it deserves to be number 1 on lists as much as it is.  It's definitely the most mainstream title, being why it gets so much love.  And the chemistry between Cloud and Sephiroth is off-the-charts good.  However, compared to other titles, yes it's a bit too highly praised.

I'm not surprised you mentioned 10 as being number 1 on your list.  Tons of people love this one.  I like it a lot too but the only thing that annoys me about it is the sort of baffling storyline.  Maybe I need to replay it again, but I remember the actual game being awesome but the storyline giving me "Philosophy 101" headaches.

It's been mentioned elsewhere, but it would be awesome if FF did another throwback title like 9.  If they didn't do it for consoles, at least do it for the newest handhelds.  A brand new, turn based, classic FF would sell a lot, I can guarantee that.  So...hold on.  Wait.  OMG.

Look at this.  I read this right in the middle of this post.  Final Fantasy 15 To Be Released On The 3DS | Bitmob.com

Final Fantasy 15.  On 3DS? 


EDIT:  This article is also two years old.  So...sorry.  Maybe it's not true?

Double EDIT:  No, looks like I read more recent info and this will not be the case.  Seems like they are pushing more towards action related titles.  Hmm...


----------



## Vanya (Feb 26, 2012)

1. FF VIII was my first FF I bought. I LOVED it.

2. FF Crystal Chronicles on GameCube. It was a cute co-op game my hubby and I played in our first apartment. I guess it has sentimental value for me and that's why it rates second.

3. FF Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearer for Wii. We bought this after #2 and we both really liked it.

4. FF XI. I played it a little bit after getting hooked on WoW and forcing myself to stop, so I never let myself get fully involved in the game. I'm sure I could engross myself in it if I let myself.

5. FF XIII. I'm still in the process of playing it, but I like it so far. 

I could never really get into VII so it's not in my top five. I bought FF x2 and, boy oh boy, I wish I never made that purchase. Definitely not my style. It makes me think twice if I really want to get FF XIII-2.


----------



## Philip Overby (Feb 26, 2012)

If you like XIII, then you'll like XIII-2 more I think.  At least most of the complaints of XIII seem to be fixed in XIII-2.  Read some non-spoiler reviews and see if it's up your alley.  

I'm surprised so many people like VIII.  It's my least favorite one for various reasons.  I recently tried to replay it on my PSP because I thought maybe I was missing something, but I couldn't even get past the first part.  Do you mind sharing why that one is your favorite?  Maybe I'm still not getting it completely.


----------



## Vanya (Feb 26, 2012)

It's my favorite because it was my first ever Final Fantasy game. I really enjoyed how the battles were played, the graphics (especially the spells!) and the card game I kicked butt in. It was all new and exciting for me. I'm betting if I played FF VII first I wouldn't have liked FF VIII so much, but as it is I loved that game. I didn't play the original NES games so I never knew what to expect. I was busy playing Mario and Sonic.


----------



## Philip Overby (Feb 26, 2012)

Thanks for the reply.  I guess because I grew up with the SNES and NES versions they hold a dearer place in my heart.  And while I'm a fan of the PS1 versions, they just didn't measure up to my high expectations I guess.


----------



## Janga (Feb 27, 2012)

I'll rate the ones I've played. I havent played all of the FF games:

FF6: It was known as FF3 when I had it for my Super Nintendo. This is probably my favorite game of all time. The story was just so awesome and Kefka was a brilliant villain.

FF7: Another terrific FF game... great story and Sephiroth was a great villain.

FF12: I loved the changeup in the battle system and the better graphics on the PS2. 

FF10: Great story... thats all I really remember of it.

FF8: Another great game. I loved the idea of the college.


----------



## Kelise (Feb 27, 2012)

FFVIII was my first, but FFXII was my favourite, simply because of sky pirates and Balthier. Everyone in FFVIII whines SO MUCH but it's still dear to me. Even if it is so hard to go back and play it when it's all pixely.

I have to say, I haven't really liked the latest games that much :\ FFIII is probably my second favourite. Then Revenant Wings.

FFIX wasn't a favourite, FFX was awesome except for Tidus, FFX-II I didn't like at all. FFXIII I think I was expecting too much from and haven't played FFXI.

I haven't really played the middle games enough to get a feel for them, but I think I own every single one.


----------



## Philip Overby (Feb 27, 2012)

Interesting no one mentions certain ones.  I like to call some of these "The Forgotten Final Fantasies."  Namely FFII, FFIII, and FFV (Japanese order.)  I would say FFV is actually a pretty good entry in the series, but due to it not getting pushed as much as some of the others, doesn't get mentioned as much.  I recently played FFIII  on DS and it's sort of "meh."  FFII also has its moments but doesn't really shine like some of the others.  

I heard that FF15's producers said "they want a story that hasn't been told before" for the next entry.  I'm curious as to what that can be, being that they've used existentialism, time travel, quantum physics, man vs. machine, man vs. magic, clones, dream worlds, and just about everything you can think of.


----------



## Jess A (Feb 28, 2012)

Final Fantasy IX, hands down. I loved the story, the music, the characters and the steam punk setting. I suppose I am biased because it is the only one that I really spent much time playing. I am not the most patient of gamers - I can't sit there for hours playing.


----------



## Devor (Feb 28, 2012)

In order, I'll rank the ones I've played, but all of them are phenomenal games.

FF VI - I thought it was ending, then the world _blew up_.  Half-way mark?  WHAT?!
FF VII - Took a while to get into, but definitely worth it.  The development of Cloud's character is incredible.
FF IV - A lot of fun, and ingenious for its day, but on a recent replay effort, it was only alright.
FF X - *Mind-Blow*  A lot of crazy stuff in this one.  Most of it works, but it gets a little too weird at times.
FF VIII - _Eventually_ you start to like the MC, and then you realize in hindsight that it was a great story.
FF I - A custom party instead of characters.  It fit with my D&D days.  I don't remember much about it.

But the list is leaving out at least three games by the same company and in the same roleplaying vein that I feel deserve to be mentioned.  In order, those are:  _Chrono Trigger_, _Super Mario RPG_ (a partnership between Square Enix and Nintendo), and _Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2_.  Legendary games that deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Final Fantasy.


----------



## Philip Overby (Feb 28, 2012)

Chrono Trigger is widely regarded by some as being better than any Final Fantasy, that's how good it is.  However, I wouldn't necessarily go that far.  It's an awesome game for sure and beats out some of the Final Fantasy games.

I never got into the Kingdom Hearts games, but I understand the appeal of them.  And Super Mario RPG was fantastic.

If mentioning other games, I must note that Dragon Quest is actually considered the superior series here in Japan.  One thing about it is that it's never really tried to be more than what it is.  Which is saying a lot for it's staying power.  Dragon Quest IX sold millions of copies here.  

I agree with your list obviously, because it's basically the same as mine.


----------



## Reaver (Feb 28, 2012)

I don't want to get off topic here but I think that *SHINING IN THE DARKNESS *must be mentioned as one of the greatest RPG "Dungeon Crawlers" of all time.


Chrono Trigger tops my list, but I love all the Final Fantasy games.  When stationed in Okinawa back in the early 90's I had access to the Japanese versions, which I have to say are superior in many ways to their U.S. released counterparts.

Just my humble opinion.


----------



## Leif GS Notae (Feb 29, 2012)

Oh, thank the sweet baby whatever-it-is-that-believes-in-us that there isn't a lot of FFVII on the lists. That has to be the worst one out of the series. I know, I played XII. Anything with II is less than par, I am guessing...

VI - Kefka. That's it, this is what makes the game. 

IV - My first real FF experience on my own with sweeping characters and a good storyline. I made it a goal to beat it every month while I was in high school. I knew everything backward and forward, still smile to this day.

I - How can anyone not love them some Red Mage? I think I might be a bit jaded by 8 Bit Theater though.

IX - A classic entry everyone pans because of the monkey tail. A good return and decent enough to end out the PSOne era

VIII - Yep, this was better than VII in my books. Better characters, better story (I'm a sucker for time travel) and Squall's hair is brown. 

ADDON: How can anyone forget Final Fantasy Tactics? I loved Tactics Ogre more, but the same crew worked on both so it is awesome for me.

Yep. VII and XII, really bad... _REALLY BAD_. I'd rate any Crystal Chronicles entry and XIII over these two games. Yep, a hallways game with a super annoying support character is better than Cloud and Sephiroth. 

Can you tell I hate those games? My apologies. I know, it's opinion and I don't want to stir the pot here. The story was lost on me and I didn't really have a connection when I played either one. I never even cried when Aerith dies.


----------



## Sparkie (Feb 29, 2012)

Phil the Drill said:


> Interesting no one mentions certain ones.  I like to call some of these "The Forgotten Final Fantasies."  Namely FFII, FFIII, and FFV (Japanese order.)  I would say FFV is actually a pretty good entry in the series, but due to it not getting pushed as much as some of the others, doesn't get mentioned as much.  I recently played FFIII  on DS and it's sort of "meh."  FFII also has its moments but doesn't really shine like some of the others.
> 
> I heard that FF15's producers said "they want a story that hasn't been told before" for the next entry.  I'm curious as to what that can be, being that they've used existentialism, time travel, quantum physics, man vs. machine, man vs. magic, clones, dream worlds, and just about everything you can think of.



I've played most FF games, but not III.  Thanks for the mini-assessment, and I agree with you on FFII.

While we're going off topic a bit, I also really liked Lunar: Eternal Blue.  Anyone else play this one?


----------



## Caged Maiden (Feb 29, 2012)

Okay.  I played a few of them, and I definitely remember I.  It was okay, but since we had original Nintendo.. you know, we played every game we could get our hands on.  I loved the one for SNES with Rosa and Cecil.  Then I want to talk about FFVII.......
I don't know how old you all are, but I'm 31, and when it came out I must have been 18 or something..... 
It was absolutely the most revolutionary thing I've ever seen.  Do you all remember the graphics?  Sure now we look back and realize they were crap, but at the time, the cut-scenes were the most awesome things I had ever seen, and *That's* why I think it's the best one.  
Not to mention, I'm in love with Vincent.  In fact, I made a Vincent costume with the gun and everything.... 
I hated VIII, and didn't get very far because the  handbook sucked so bad.  
Was X the one with Lulu?  I loved Lulu, but I can't remember the plot, really.  I think I sort of liked that one, but after VII my expectations were really high.


----------



## Philip Overby (Feb 29, 2012)

I rank FVII lower than others, but I still think it has a lot to offer.  The story gets really weird, but then that's sort of the case with almost all of the games past VII.  Even IX which was relatively straightforward had its weird moments.

I guess my main focus with Final Fantasy is the storyline.  Graphics are great and all, but there are tons of pretty games that suck.  

FFVII and VIII are probably the two most divisive games in the series I think.  People either love them or hate them.  There's really no middle ground on those games.


----------



## grahamguitarman (Feb 29, 2012)

My absolute favourite game of all time, has to be FFVI without a doubt, I still play it from time to time on zsnes (my snes died a few years back to many tears from me) Not only does it have Locke Terra and the brilliantly evil Kefka, and an awesome storyline which includes the world exploding halfway through.  It also has one of the coolest secret levels I've ever seen in a game (the one where you find the hidden character Gogo)

Next would be FFVII,  the whole story around Cloud and Sepiroth was great, and it was certainly a huge shock when Aeris got killed!  

FFX was good but I never finished it, got overloaded with work and somehow never got back to it, must go back and replay it one day.

FFV was a great Game from what I recall but I've not played it in years so my memory is a bit thin on that.

There are some that I have not played due to not having the hardware, but we recently got a wii for the kids so I tried crystal chronicles and absolutely hated it. 

I have to agree that Chrono Trigger is another awesome game - I've just recently started replaying it again on the zsnes.  I also loved breath of fire (but hated the playstation version)


----------



## Anders Ã„mting (Mar 2, 2012)

Big Final Fantasy fan, here. My favourite would be a tie between FF6 and FF10. 

FF6 is pretty much the perfected epitome of classic 2D JRPGs, along with _maybe _Chrono Trigger. Really, it doesn't get better then that - the world, the characters, the narrative, the dialogue, the finale. All of it kicks ass. 

As for FF10, it did away with some stuff that had bothered me about the previous 3D FF games, like the free-roaming map, while finally reaching a level of refinement that could show me something believable and awe-inspiring. I _loved _weird and ruined world it presented to me - to this day, Spira is one of my all time favourite settings. I'm pretty sure I played FF10 more then I have played any other game, to the point where I actually ruined my thumb for quite a while. I'm partially ambidexterous today because of it.

FF12 also showed a lot of promise, but I didn't think the story lived up to it - it seemed to promise a huge epic about warring empires and betrayel and conspiracies and airship fleets and weird creatures but it turned out to be basically just a series of fetch quests to get magical swords and stones from various dungeons. It just felt as if they could have done much more with it. 

Also, while FF12 has some of my favourite characters of all time (Balthier for the heroes and Dr Cid for the villains) it also had Vaan, who was a terrible main character with virtually no relevance to the plot at all.

I haven't played FF13 yet, but I've heard very varied opinions about it. All in all, I expect to like it.



Sparkie said:


> Tidus sucks, I think,





starconstant said:


> FFX was awesome except for Tidus,



You know, I never really got why so many people hate Tidus. Aside from some admittedly painful voice acting, I thought he was one of the better protagonists. He does complain a bit, but then again the guy had a ton of crap dropped on him over the course of the game and all in all, I think he took it with stride.

Seriously, compare him to Cloud Strife for a moment. Cloud is a badass former soldier and professional headbooter. He's told he's a clone with false memories. The guy goes _catatonic._

Tidus is the equivalent of an ace football player. He's told that his life is literally just a dream. His reaction is basically: "I don't care!"

That's what I like about Tidus - he never faltered. The story kept dropping one nasty surprise after the other on him, and his way of dealing with them usually amounted to kicking even more ass and figuring something out along the way.

And at least he's not Vaan, who was basically Tidus except without any of the characteristics that actually made Tidus somewhat interesting.


----------



## Kelise (Mar 4, 2012)

Tidus simply bored me, I suppose. I just had no interest at all in his character.

Squall wins the award for complaining the most though, and his forever use of '...'

Cloud I didn't really like either - probably more than Tidus. He's the favourite of most so I'm a bit odd, but Cloud (to me) was a pain.

Really, I don't like any of the main male characters. Seifer, Auron, Balthier, Basch, Reno... I enjoyed their backgrounds and personalities a whole lot more than Tidus, Squall, Cloud and Vaan.

Final Fantasy III is a little harder to categorise, but Ingus was my favourite in that.

No insult meant if I've badmouthed anyones favourite character - I'm quite odd with my favourites in games.


----------



## Philip Overby (Mar 4, 2012)

In Final Fantasy XIII Versus, the character Noctis looks like they're going with the more sombre lead male again.  He looks really awesome though so I'll withhold judgment until I see how he acts.  

There are basically two types of heroes in FF:

1.  Brooding, anti-social
2.  Spastic and/or annoying 

I agree with starconstant to an extent:  I prefer a lot of the secondary characters to the "main" characters.  But that's why I like VI so much because they had an ensemble cast.  Terra was sort of the de-facto main character, but everyone seemed mostly equal in that game.  

Not a fan of Vaan, Tidus, or Squall.  Cloud is fine because he's cool in some ways.  Ditto Lightning.


----------



## Philip Overby (Mar 4, 2012)

Here's my top characters that I posted on another thread but closed it because it was sort of redundant.  

Heroes/Heroines

5. Auron (FFX): A badass with a sword, but in a good way. Auron had the machismo and the mystery, yet the cool demeanor that makes him a favorite in the series. While not the hero of the story, he certainly stands out as one of the better party members and overshadows Tidus and Yuna's story due to his mysterious swagger.

4. Zidane (FFIX); The more light-hearted hero of FFIX, he was the princess rescuing type. He was unique in that he wasn't a sulking hero yet not an annoying whiner. He is the perfect balance of character for me.

3. Terra (FFVI): The intricacies of Terra's character can't be explained really. But she goes from entranced Imperial war tool to a woman awakening to her true form and potential. An intriguing character and one of the stand-outs in the series.

2. Locke (FVI): I like FFVI so I picked two here. Locke is a great hero. He is brave, dashing, funny, unselfish, all the the things that make a roguish hero popular. He's sort of the Han Solo of the FF world. When you think he's all bravado, he actually has a deeper side.

1. Cecil (FFIV): The man with a dark past who sheds his power in order to save the world. Cecil is best hero because his is a story of redemption (which I always enjoy). Despite giving up his awesome dark knight powers, he morphs into something even more powerful by becoming a paladin. He helps many people along the way and becomes to me a true representative of what a hero in FF should be.


Villains

5. Kain: (FFIV) I almost picked Golbez for this spot, but Kain I think is one of the most intricate villains in all of FF. Not only is he a party member at one point, but his jealousy of Cecil and love of Rosa causes him to do strange things throughout the game. Is he really be controlled or is he acting on his own? His betrayal actually hurt me when I first played this game and that's saying a lot.

4. The Archadian Judges: (FFXII) This is my "they look badass" pick. While not necessarily memorable individually, Bergan, Drace, Gabranth, Ghis, and Zargabaath are the types of villains that invoke fear into a gamer. Upon seeing these armored terror knights stalking together, it actually made me cringe. These Judges had an aura of fear about them, making them the type of villains you want in a game.

3. Sephiroth (FFVII): Usually everyone's number 1 spot, Sephiroth is to me one of the most iconic villains in FF history. While some may criticize his ranking as being too high or too low, my defense is that he is the only FF villain to do this:

SPOILER! Skip over the italics if you don't want to know.

_He actually kills a party member in Aerith. If that doesn't get him a spot, I don't know what does. Even if not for storyline purposes, he kills one of your best characters in the game! That was enough for me to hate him. And the shock of the moment resonates in gaming history._

He has little emotion, is intimidating, and is the type of villain you want to see die at the end. So for that he gets a top spot on my list.

2. Sin: (FFX) A world-eating monster. This villain never spoke, but to me was one of the most terrifying villains in FF. I rank him so highly because of the urgency of killing him, the fear he invokes, the dread of having to face him, and his awesome appearance. These kind of villains are sometimes the most effective because they don't have any real purpose. Just a mindless machine of destruction. That's cool to me.

1. Kefka: (FFVI) The laugh. That creepy laugh. My top villain is Kefka simply because he will stop at nothing to get what he wants. He's also insane, a FF version of the Joker. An enemy that can't be rationalized with and just keeps destroying everyone that gets in his path. The true face of evil to me is when you face a villain that just cannot be changed. There is no hope for Kefka. The embodiment of chaos, he devastates humanity in order to achieve more and more power. Awesome villain. One of the best in video game history.

So that's my list. Of course you don't have to be so in-depth with yours, but what do you think? What are your top 5 heroes/heroines and villains?


----------



## Androxine Vortex (Mar 4, 2012)

Final Fantasy X was my first RPG. I did have old Zelda games and stuff like that but I guess I was too young to like it. Even though FFX has a lot of critisism about it, it was THE game that really got me into the genre. The storyline was really interesting, the characters were all very likable (especially Wakka) and it was just really fun to play. I actual have a Auron T-shirt that says FINAL FANTASY below him. I did play FFXII but didn't like it. Other than that FFX was the only FF game that i have played.


----------



## Philip Overby (Mar 9, 2012)

Hey guys, check out my article for Final Fantasy on the main page.  Perhaps I address some of the problems we have found in this thread with why Final Fantasy is dwindling in popularity.  Comments and thoughts welcome!  Final Fantasy Reimagined: J-RPG+Western RPG=Awesome?


----------



## Devor (Mar 9, 2012)

Phil the Drill said:


> Hey guys, check out my article for Final Fantasy on the main page.  Perhaps I address some of the problems we have found in this thread with why Final Fantasy is dwindling in popularity.  Comments and thoughts welcome!  Final Fantasy Reimagined: J-RPG+Western RPG=Awesome?



I don't know, but to me it reads like you're telling FF games to westernize, rather than forming any sort of merger between the styles.  Customizable characters, in particular, are hard to reconcile with the strong, character-based storytelling that Final Fantasy has been known for.  Even being able to change the character's name means that no voice actor can even use that name.  Being able to change the character's weapons ruins a lot of potential cut-scenes, which couldn't be written with a specific weapon in mind.  And those are just the most basic customizations.


----------



## Philip Overby (Mar 9, 2012)

I don't think it would hurt Final Fantasy to westernize to some extent.  Skyrim got a perfect score in the venerable Famitsu magazine.  Meaning Japanese and Western gamers alike agree it's an awesome game.  The last three games (FFXII, FXIII, and FFIV) have gotten less that favorable reviews.  Mass Effect has some of the strongest characters in RPGs right now and their main character is customizable.  Having a given last name like "Shepherd" or "Hawke" (in Dragon Age) would solve characters referring to them by name.  

And Monster Hunter is one of the most popular series in all of Japan.  And it's really customizable.  Weapons, armor, everything.  This series currently blows FF out of the water in terms of popularity.  In Japan specifically.  

Tons of games use the weapons you are currently using in the cut scenes.  It's not that difficult to render.


----------



## Devor (Mar 9, 2012)

Phil the Drill said:


> I don't think it would hurt Final Fantasy to westernize to some extent.  Skyrim got a perfect score in the venerable Famitsu magazine.  Meaning Japanese and Western gamers alike agree it's an awesome game.  The last three games (FFXII, FXIII, and FFIV) have gotten less that favorable reviews.  Mass Effect has some of the strongest characters in RPGs right now and their main character is customizable.  Having a given last name like "Shepherd" or "Hawke" (in Dragon Age) would solve characters referring to them by name.
> 
> And Monster Hunter is one of the most popular series in all of Japan.  And it's really customizable.  Weapons, armor, everything.  This series currently blows FF out of the water in terms of popularity.  In Japan specifically.



From a business and marketing perspective, this is a really common trend.  A few products do well, using one style, and so older product lines have to compromise their styles to match.  The result is often, but not always, that they alienate their older customers and simultaneously fall into a batch of copy-cats.  In my opinion, they're more likely to succeed if they went back to what worked best with their older games.  That said, I also haven't played anything after FFX or many of the other newer RPGs.




> Tons of games use the weapons you are currently using in the cut scenes.  It's not that difficult to render.



I meant to refer to scenes which integrate those weapons into the scene itself.


----------



## Philip Overby (Mar 9, 2012)

I don't see them going back to the turn-based style.  If they did, it would have to be for handhelds.  In that case, I think it would make huge money.  An original Final Fantasy for handhelds would do about as well as Dragon Quest IX did, which made millions in Japan and elsewhere.  

However, for consoles I think they need to borrow from other successful franchises.  Have the same Final Fantasy charm and great storylines, but have more customization for your main character at least.  You could have a default model like Shepherd in Mass Effect.  It's already been mentioned that Final Fantasy XV is going to be more action based.  So it looks like they're already adopting some level of Western mechanics (like Skyrim for example).


----------



## grahamguitarman (Mar 9, 2012)

The reason I grew distant from final fantasy was the abandonment of turn based battles, it got that i just couldn't enjoy them anymore


----------



## Philip Overby (Mar 9, 2012)

I think that is where they've seen they're core fan base dwindle off after FFX.  Like I said before, I think a new turn-based edition of FF (maybe FF16?) would be awesome and would do really well.  But I think they'd have to do it for handheld.  Their focus on doing new and different things with their console versions, so they're going to keep pushing in whatever direction they think is best.  If they're going to do action based games, however, it couldn't hurt borrowing from action based games that have been successful such as Monster Hunter, Kingdom Hearts, Elder Scrolls, and Dragon Age.


----------



## Devor (Mar 11, 2012)

Phil the Drill said:


> I don't see them going back to the turn-based style.



I didn't at all mean to suggest they return to turn-based combat.  That's a very small portion of what their older games were about.  I just think the core of the Final Fantasy series is their character-based storytelling, and the more customization they add to their characters, the less finite those characters become for the story to draw upon.  That's all.


----------



## Philip Overby (Mar 12, 2012)

I think what I was thinking of is more along the lines of Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and Knights of the Old Republic.  Bioware style games.  There's a main character but he's able to be customized and still has his own personality as you pick how he interacts with other members of your party.  Perhaps a Final Fantasy game that let you dictate the story more could open the world up to a lot more fans as they'd be able to carve out their own path in branching storylines.  So still have the strong story-driven games, just with a bit more control over certain dialogue and branching quests.


----------



## ryan.morrison73 (Apr 7, 2012)

If I had to put my favorite FF games in order it would have to be;
1. FF 9
The first game I played and an epic adventure. Greatly overlooked because of Seven and then Ten
2. FF 10
The graphics, Mixed with a great story line, along with fun characters and a Main character who wasn't just a silent bad***
3. FF Tactics
Made strategy RPG games popular to begin with and had an awesome story.


Most of the rest were good too but those were my favorite.


----------



## teacup (Nov 10, 2013)

(Time to revive the thread.)

1) FFIX. Without a doubt my favourite game ever. I loved the style, the music, the gameplay, the world, the characters - everything was just brilliant in this game. (The card game was useless though.)

2) FFVII. I think this is way too highly praised, but it is still my second favourite. Sephiroph was a great villain and the storyline had me guessing for a long time. I liked the materia system, too.

3) FFVI. I enjoyed this one a lot, especially the chocobo runaway from Figarro part. Kefka and the steampunk stuff were great. I didn't like how everyone could learn the same magic/skills with no penalty (unlike FFVII as you had limited space for materia.)

4) FFIV. It was good fun, but the actual storyline didn't really do much for me. 



Spoiler: ff4



The twist was lame, I thought. He's his brother? Oh wow. Nah.


 Also, the last boss was very "meh." And I don't mean the battle. I enjoyed the magic system to it, though. 

5) FFVIII. Oh man...Ugh. First, I'm going to say that I did enjoy it and the card game was actually useful. Now I'm going to say the writing was absolutely terrible, and I absolutely hate Squall, and though it was supposed to be a love story, it was not done well at all. Here's how it went: Squall doesn't care about her at all. Squall's extremely defensive of her. Squall loves her. No progression between. An event happens then he's like that. (I'll stop knocking it now, because I have too much to say ;P)

Top 5 characters: Vivi, Red XII, Zidane, Steiner, Freya. (Okay, so 4 of them are from FF9, but those are my top 5 anyway.)


----------



## musycpyrate (Nov 17, 2013)

FF VII was my first and favorite. Cid Highwind does not get enough attention!
FF VIII second. I love the interactive gunblade in battles and the story. Magic was wierd though. 
FF XII third. Balthier.... need I say more.


----------



## Philip Overby (Nov 18, 2013)

> 5) FFVIII. Oh man...Ugh. First, I'm going to say that I did enjoy it and the card game was actually useful. Now I'm going to say the writing was absolutely terrible, and I absolutely hate Squall, and though it was supposed to be a love story, it was not done well at all. Here's how it went: Squall doesn't care about her at all. Squall's extremely defensive of her. Squall loves her. No progression between. An event happens then he's like that. (I'll stop knocking it now, because I have too much to say ;P)



I'm currently replaying this after being part of a group on Facebook where the majority of the members rank this as number 1. I don't get it myself, but it's better than I remember it. I still don't really get the connection with Squall. He's extremely hard to identify with for me. Maybe it's a personality thing, I don't know.

FFVI will always be my favorite one. I loved the ensemble cast and the storyline.


----------



## Zero Angel (Nov 18, 2013)

Phil the Drill said:


> I think what I was thinking of is more along the lines of Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and Knights of the Old Republic.  Bioware style games.  There's a main character but he's able to be customized and still has his own personality as you pick how he interacts with other members of your party.  Perhaps a Final Fantasy game that let you dictate the story more could open the world up to a lot more fans as they'd be able to carve out their own path in branching storylines.  So still have the strong story-driven games, just with a bit more control over certain dialogue and branching quests.



...so, like Chrono Trigger? At least with the branching storylines 



Phil the Drill said:


> I'm currently replaying this after being part of a group on Facebook where the majority of the members rank this as number 1. I don't get it myself, but it's better than I remember it. I still don't really get the connection with Squall. He's extremely hard to identify with for me. Maybe it's a personality thing, I don't know.
> 
> FFVI will always be my favorite one. I loved the ensemble cast and the storyline.



I adore FFVIII. I'm actually in the middle (or well, last 1/3) of a replay-through as well, and I actually like and enjoy Squall and most of the characters a lot more. Maybe I was a little too young to understand the stoicism, and I think that the game loses something in having these polygons trying to display emotional depth through body language. 

Squall is absurdly stoic, and most of the time (at least in the first 2 and 1/2 discs) the player has to guess at what he's thinking. But well, it's really not that hard to guess, and some of the party members help out now and again by explaining it.


Spoiler: FFVIII Attack on Garden and Space



One of the things that almost ruined him for me in this playthrough (and I imagine, in previous playthroughs as well) was how long it took him to go rescue Rinoa in the attack on Garden. I thought it stretching things a little bit too much, but at the same time, we already know how seriously Squall is taking being a leader of Garden and doing his best for everyone, putting them ahead of himself (and his desire to save Rinoa). 

At the same time, his absolutely ridiculously amazing and hopeless rescue of Rinoa in space completely redeems pretty much everything he's done or not done with Rinoa up to that point. He absolutely says "eff it all" in regards to all his responsibilities and goes after what he wants the most even though even by going after her, they had almost no chance.



I've heard recently that FFVIII is much more popular with girls than guys, but well, if it was designed in the last ten years it would definitely be my favorite.

Anyway, my lists:
1. Final Fantasy Tactics: Not a main series entry, but my favorite Final Fantasy of all-time. The story is amazing, the graphics were clean and beautiful (which was pretty major for PS1, this is the same system that housed FFVII, a game I can't play anymore because of the graphics and lack of analog stick support). The job system was life-consuming. The recent update for PSP is even better than the original and is the sole reason I would like to own a PSP (I borrowed my brother's for a summer). 

2. Final Fantasy X: The story, characters, gameplay mechanics, and graphics were all completely amazing. My only gripe was being forced to do mini-games to get ultimate weapons fully unlocked—some of which I could never even get close to being able to do (LIGHTNING TOWERS I HATE YOU)

3. Final Fantasy VIII: I think people had their expectations so high after VII that nothing would have satisfied them. I loved the junctioning system and the characters. The love story was fantastic and Squall's depth was impressive. My biggest complaint is that Cid wasn't very awesome (I'm used to Cids being awesome). The graphics were so much better than VII. 

4. Final Fantasy XII: The battle system goes down as being one of the best of all RPGs I've ever played. I enjoyed the storyline and I loved all the references to Final Fantasy Tactics scattered about. The bestiary was very cool, and the judges as well. I loved getting demolished in the first area by a tyrannosaurus...taught me not to attack everything I see! I disliked the summons, and the lack of a love story was a surprise. I have some other complaints as well, so if some of the older games had better gameplay or directing, they would probably unseat this.

5. Final Fantasy VII: Probably my favorite end-game experience with the master materia, weapons (both the kind you equip and the kind you fight) and everything else. I loved materia and it goes down as one of my favorite magic systems. I loved all the characters with Cloud, Tifa, Aerith and Yuffie being some of my all-time favorite characters. The creepiness of following Sephiroth or Jenova was one of the more horrific things I had ever experienced in a video game at the time. I also love all the extra story that has come out since the game. Crisis Core and Advent Children Complete are fantastic in their own rights. 

6. Final Fantasy IV: I only recently got to play this game (compared to everyone that played it as FF2), and I found it surprisingly compelling and deep. I enjoyed the difficulty and not being coddled. The story and characters were nice and it has aged well, although it would definitely benefit from a face-lift. 

7. Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core : I really enjoyed the ease and set-up of this game, and it's completely gorgeous too. Got a little bit too easy there at the end, but I enjoy power-gaming so that wasn't an issue for me. It was nice seeing more of Zack and especially more of Aerith, Sephiroth and Cloud, but I found the extra content a little distracting. I don't think that the plot of this game really added much to the mythos of Final Fantasy VII, other than being a chance to see SOLDIER and Zack in particular in action. I have similar feelings towards what I know of Dirge of Cerberus. 

8. Final Fantasy XIII: Beautiful and the Fal'Cie are cool. It was nice having a female protagonist, but I didn't particularly care for most of the characters. I never developed the rapport I had for, well, anyone else in any other Final Fantasy game. Lightning is awesome, but I didn't fall for her. Snow is strong, but I found him annoying. I wouldn't be sure of the names of any of the other characters, and I'm not even sure I can picture them. The linearity made the game go quick and I thought the battles were engaging but stupid. They made you stand up and make sure you were doing everything right, but it was a bit too formulaic for me. Combo to stagger then damage dealers, blah blah blah. 

9. Final Fantasy IX: I really didn't care for FFIX the first time I played it. I got Chrono Cross first and was glad I did. I eventually enjoyed IX enough to play it through to the third disc this last year, and I have high hopes I will play it to the conclusion by the end of next year. I did not care for the character designs. I loved the feel that they were going for, and I wish they had pulled it off better. One of the things they did best was establish a world that felt like it was a living, breathing place. X did this as well, but both VII and VIII made you come away thinking things like "How do they have an economy?" and "Where is the infrastructure?" So this was a welcome change in IX. 

9. Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest : This was my first Final Fantasy game. I played it for hours upon hours way back when I was a kid and I really loved it. It paled in comparison to when I finally got to find out what all the fuss was about with a game called "Chrono Trigger", but I played Mystic Quest for at least a few years before I got to play any of the greats.​
I tried playing FFI but couldn't get into it. And yes, I am aware VI wasn't on the list, a game that is universally regarded as being in the top two best RPGs for the SNES (Chrono Trigger being the other), but I never got to play it. I'm looking forward to doing so eventually.


----------



## Zero Angel (Nov 18, 2013)

In regards to your article, Phil:

I'm not sure that I care about personal customization of the characters. I think what Skyrim gains in customization it loses in storytelling. I would love to see more customization on the gameplay side and more open-ended content as well. One of the things I love about Skyrim, besides it being such a fantastic little world that feels believable, is that there's always tons of things to do. And you can always download more things to do via mods (at least if you have the PC version). 

It would be fantastic to continue on in FF games, getting stronger, getting better items and equipment, exploring more of the world, visiting more settings, seeing more cutscenes, finding out more about your party. After a good Final Fantasy, I am just always left wanting more. 

Short of fan-fiction or pipe dreams of remakes, playing the game over only has so much to offer.


----------



## Philip Overby (Nov 18, 2013)

That article's one of the first ones I wrote for Mythic Scribes, I think. 

My opinion has slightly changed since then, but not much. I think some of the online entries of Final Fantasy (11 and 14) allow for a lot of customization, so perhaps that scratches that particular itch. Maybe doing so in a main entry wouldn't work for the series. However, what I meant by giving players more options is allowing them to shape their relationships with characters and even the world around them, the same way you can do so in Skyrim. If you want to be a murdering psychopath, you can be that. If you want to be the hero that saves the day, you can do that too. I agree that I don't think Skyrim's storyline is as strong as its playability, but I guess I don't expect that from the Elder Scrolls games. 

FFVI is on a lot of top RPGs of all time lists, and for good reason. I think one reason is because the story is incredible, everyone can find a character that they like or relate to, and it had some pretty revolutionary ideas at the time. Without giving spoilers away, the game blew my mind at a young age with some of the things it dared to do.

For me, I imagine, some what if situations:

1. What if you could play the game as a Dark Knight, the same way you could in FFIV. However, you don't have to become a paladin, but instead stay on your same path. What if you decide to turn to the "dark side" so to speak? How would this effect your relationships with other characters?
2. What if your party could be wildly different and react to you depending on your actions (a la Dragon Age or Baldur's Gate.) If you went around slaughtering moogles and destroying crystals, you couldn't have a good party. But if you were a defender of everything that was good, you couldn't have certain members in your group.
3. What if a Final Fantasy game allowed you to truly shape the way things turned out, for better or for worse? 

These are things I imagine that could allow for the series to get a boost. Sure, Chrono Trigger allowed for branching storylines, but you didn't have too many choices that actually effected the game (unless you count what to do with Magus, which I always loved). For me, allowing a bit more ability to craft your own main character (with voicework like Mass Effect does for both male and female) and then decide what path they take through a world like Ivalice or Spira would be incredible in my opinion. 

So while I believe too much customization may tip the scales too much, if you allow choices for players, I think it could really spike some interest in the future.


----------



## teacup (Nov 18, 2013)

> My  biggest complaint is that Cid wasn't very awesome (I'm used to Cids  being awesome).



Cid was Robin Williams. Do not tell me he wasn't awesome.









> I loved the feel that they were going for, and I wish they had pulled it off better.



Huh. I thought the feel of FFIX was pulled of brilliantly, and I do love IX. How come you thought it hadn't been pulled off well?


----------



## Zero Angel (Nov 19, 2013)

Phil the Drill said:


> That article's one of the first ones I wrote for Mythic Scribes, I think.
> 
> My opinion has slightly changed since then, but not much. I think some of the online entries of Final Fantasy (11 and 14) allow for a lot of customization, so perhaps that scratches that particular itch. Maybe doing so in a main entry wouldn't work for the series. However, what I meant by giving players more options is allowing them to shape their relationships with characters and even the world around them, the same way you can do so in Skyrim. If you want to be a murdering psychopath, you can be that. If you want to be the hero that saves the day, you can do that too. I agree that I don't think Skyrim's storyline is as strong as its playability, but I guess I don't expect that from the Elder Scrolls games.
> 
> ...



I have never felt any interest in playing the online FF offerings. I remember seeing FFXI and thinking it looked interesting, but I was not the type of gamer to shell out cash monthly back then and it took me years to even give WoW a try (and Warcraft was one of the only series where I owned every entry and every expansion; granted, that was only 4-6 games back then, but still)

Those are interesting ideas. In keeping with FF, instead of designing your own character, they could have offered multiple paths through the world with different characters/parties and some major game-altering decisions along the way such as your staying a dark knight example. I wouldn't have a problem with that at all and feel that could really add a lot of value to the games. I get the feeling that they don't like spending times on parts that they don't think everyone is going to see. I understand spending more time on the major pieces of the game, but when you go off on a side quest and there isn't a single special scene and you're kinda' just doing a chore instead of discovering something awesome, it's annoying. 

I never felt bored in FFVII except for grinding to better beat the weapons. In FFVIII, most of the secondary side quests (that didn't end in getting a GF) bored me, and there are a few that to this day I have never completed entirely in spite of being a completionist. 

With Chrono Trigger, one of the bigger choices you have is whether or not to try to save Crono! If you didn't care for him, you could have beat the game without him. Magus's bit is way better though. I agree.

I thought Chrono Cross largely dropped the ball in spite of how much I enjoyed it. I had planned on playing it the requisite 4 times through in order to get every character and see most of the endings, but after the ridiculous let-down of the "best" ending, I walked away and never even started a single New Game+. Most of your choices just meant that you didn't see certain characters or other characters took their places. Hardly any of the characters had any level of depth, and apparently they ran out of time before being able to incorporate Magus (supposedly Guile was originally supposed to be Magus). I remember Game Informer gave Cross RPG of the Year in spite of originally giving a higher rating to FFIX. 



teacup said:


> Cid was Robin Williams. Do not tell me he wasn't awesome.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Hahaha, that's awesome. I take it back, Cid is badass. 

...wait, no, I played the game again. He may resemble Robin Williams, and he even has some level of humor, but I couldn't help feeling that he was not just not badass, but less than pitiable. 

In regards to FFIX. Most of the characters annoyed me and really jarred me out of the game. I enjoyed Garnet and thought Freya was well-done (although, I didn't care for her), but even Eiko was more annoying than cute. Zidane had some personality, but I never felt any connection to him. I did not understand the characters tolerating Amarant and Steiner was more annoying than honorable. I enjoyed his rapport with Bellatrix, that's about it. i also couldn't get on board with the Garnet/Zidane relationship. 

I just felt that too much was misfired. The interactions between people and most of the scenes throughout the game always seemed to try to go for humor instead of sincerity, so even after you have attempted genocides and utter devastation, it still has this attempted humor quality that ruined the magic of the setting/feel. I don't have a problem with humor, but it was more slapstick humor than what I would have expected. 

It's possible that without feeling the connection to the characters that the game is just too dated for me to fully enjoy and that the rest is just me trying to come up with reasons why it didn't work for me. 

I would still rate the game a 7 or 7.5 out of 10, so it's not like I dislike it at all.


----------



## teacup (Nov 19, 2013)

> In regards to FFIX. Most of the characters annoyed me and really jarred  me out of the game. I enjoyed Garnet and thought Freya was well-done  (although, I didn't care for her), but even Eiko was more annoying than  cute. Zidane had some personality, but I never felt any connection to  him. I did not understand the characters tolerating Amarant and Steiner  was more annoying than honorable. I enjoyed his rapport with Bellatrix,  that's about it. i also couldn't get on board with the Garnet/Zidane  relationship.
> 
> I just felt that too much was misfired. The interactions between people  and most of the scenes throughout the game always seemed to try to go  for humor instead of sincerity, so even after you have attempted  genocides and utter devastation, it still has this attempted humor  quality that ruined the magic of the setting/feel. I don't have a  problem with humor, but it was more slapstick humor than what I would  have expected.
> 
> ...



I don't remember that about the humour - just that it was funny. I'll have a look out for it when I next replay it.
About the characters, well that's just where our opinions differ. I loved every one of the characters, but I do agree Eiko was annoying, but somehow that didn't lessen her as a character for me. Maybe that's just the nostalgia effect clouding my thoughts, though.


----------



## Zero Angel (Nov 20, 2013)

teacup said:


> I don't remember that about the humour - just that it was funny. I'll have a look out for it when I next replay it.
> About the characters, well that's just where our opinions differ. I loved every one of the characters, but I do agree Eiko was annoying, but somehow that didn't lessen her as a character for me. Maybe that's just the nostalgia effect clouding my thoughts, though.



Everyone has different preferences. That doesn't make them any less valid. It's possible I experienced the game at the wrong time of my life and have some sort of anti-nostalgia working against it now. I recently played through all the way to where you can't progress any further without closing off side-quests and I enjoyed my time with the game, but it is not at all on my list of favorite games, favorite RPGs, favorite JRPGs, favorite FFs. I think it made it onto my top ten of PS1 games, and definitely top ten of PS1 RPGs. 

OH! VIVI! Vivi was wonderful. 

Also, apparently FFIX has the highest Metacritic score. 

On a side comment that doesn't really have to do with the game itself, the strategy guide was the worst strategy guide of all-time. 

For my personal play-style, I enjoy power-gaming, and even though you can get a few different abilities that do 9999 every time, they were generally boring to level up (Thievery, Dragon Crest and Frog Drop). 

It was nice being able to steal from the beginning though. That's always frustrating having to wait.


----------



## Philip Overby (Nov 20, 2013)

It's hard to reply to everything, so I'll just do my patented "Phil List."

1. My point about giving what I call "Bioware Choices" is that many players enjoy being able to actually make a difference in what happens to their characters. If you had a Final Fantasy that functioned like Mass Effect or Knights of the Old Republic, in which you could go the more Paragon/Light Side (good), neutral, or Renegade/Dark Side (bad) routes, it would offer higher replay value and allow you to try different things with the storylines. I figure if Bioware can do this, why can't Square Enix? You could even have job systems like in Tactics and other games, that are restricted according to what path you take. For example, if you get a certain number of Paragon points, you can make a Paladin, while if you get a certain number of Renegade points you can make a Dark Knight. Some jobs wouldn't be restricted by your moral choices, but maybe a FF2 style or Skyrim style of whatever skills you use allows you to open new jobs. (If you use lots of magic, you can become a Black or White Mage, if you are a bruiser you can be a Warrior or Berserker.) I just think doing something like that could open up so many new horizons and still have the Final Fantasy style that everyone loves. 

2. Chrono Trigger, like you said, is probably closest to this that exists in the Square Enix universe. Maybe Chrono Cross (I didn't play it enough to know?) You can actually complete the game without certain characters (same in FFVI) if you want. I thought that was a really cool added feature. Being able to fight Lavos whenever you wanted to was really cool. I couldn't think of any other game that allowed me to fight the last boss at the beginning of the game. That's one reason Chrono Trigger is often regarded as one of the best RPGs ever. I believe some people play RPGs because they like "role-playing." Meaning they want to create characters, forge their own story if they can, and see what happens when they interact with others.

3. Final Fantasy IX ranks pretty high for me, but still below VI and IV. I'd say it's in my top 5. For me, I like the quirkiness of it and how it didn't take itself so seriously. After VIII, it was a definite breath of fresh air. I personally think XIII is terribly underrated. I see so many people bash the living hell out of it, but looking back in several years, I believe it'll be more widely known as not being as bad as some hardcore fans make it out to be. It's definitely not my favorite, but I liked it. Perhaps VIII has that same effect now. It was widely seen as a disappointment after the stellar VII (in my top 5), but has since formed its own fan base which I've noticed is primarily people in their twenties who played it as their first Final Fantasy. There are many 14 and 15 year olds who are playing XIII for the first time and may say the same thing years from now.

4. I rarely find characters annoying in the FF series. One reason is because I think camp is a pretty core part of the overall series. Even if a character does annoying things or comes off whiny, it doesn't bother me much. I guess living in Japan gives me more of a tolerance for the overly energetic or cutesy type of characters. I find some of them endearing. 

Just want to note: I can talk about Final Fantasy until I'm blue in the face. I'm one of those apologists that will always find something good about each game in the series just because I will always buy whatever they put out. Except Dirge of the Cerberus. Meh.


----------



## teacup (Nov 20, 2013)

> Everyone has different preferences. That doesn't make them any less valid.


Of course.



> OH! VIVI! Vivi was wonderful



By far my favorite. 


I think I'll play Tactics, X or V next.


----------



## Zero Angel (Nov 20, 2013)

Phil the Drill said:


> It's hard to reply to everything, so I'll just do my patented "Phil List."
> 
> 1. My point about giving what I call "Bioware Choices" is that many players enjoy being able to actually make a difference in what happens to their characters. If you had a Final Fantasy that functioned like Mass Effect or Knights of the Old Republic, in which you could go the more Paragon/Light Side (good), neutral, or Renegade/Dark Side (bad) routes, it would offer higher replay value and allow you to try different things with the storylines. I figure if Bioware can do this, why can't Square Enix? You could even have job systems like in Tactics and other games, that are restricted according to what path you take. For example, if you get a certain number of Paragon points, you can make a Paladin, while if you get a certain number of Renegade points you can make a Dark Knight. Some jobs wouldn't be restricted by your moral choices, but maybe a FF2 style or Skyrim style of whatever skills you use allows you to open new jobs. (If you use lots of magic, you can become a Black or White Mage, if you are a bruiser you can be a Warrior or Berserker.) I just think doing something like that could open up so many new horizons and still have the Final Fantasy style that everyone loves.
> 
> ...



Fully agree on #1, now that I understand more of what you meant. This sounds like a good mix that I'm surprised they don't try more of (especially after the success of games like Skyrim and how less and less popular FF seems to be getting). 

I may sound like I'm being harsher than I intend. I have never played a FF single-player main entry that I didn't like other than FF the first. And that was probably only because I had no freaking clue what I was doing or what to do. I was also much younger and had been spoiled by DragonQuest 1 - 3 (Dragon Warrior here). 

I do enjoy my time with FFIX and I don't hate the characters. I just don't feel like they became a part of my soul in the same way other characters in other entries did. 

Eiko was just a spoiled brat though. She gets better, but sheesh she's a jerk. Nothing to do with being cute. Maybe I'm misremembering. 

What was your favorite skills/leveling system?



teacup said:


> Of course.
> 
> By far my favorite.
> 
> I think I'll play Tactics, X or V next.



If you can get your hands on the PSP version of Tactics, it's the definitive version in my opinion. The translation is way better and the cut scenes are a nice addition. Plus, Luso and Balthier rock.


----------



## Sparkie (Nov 21, 2013)

Zero Angel said:


> OH! VIVI! Vivi was wonderful.



While we're on the subject (sort of), I'd like to say something about the little black mage.  IMO, not only is Vivi the best part of that game, he may be the best single character in the series bar none (Sephiroth be damned).  I enjoyed his part immensely, and I'd still like to see more of him in a future game (which will never happen).

(Did I use enough parentheses in this post?  No?)


----------



## Zero Angel (Nov 21, 2013)

Sparkie said:


> While we're on the subject (sort of), I'd like to say something about the little black mage.  IMO, not only is Vivi the best part of that game, he may be the best single character in the series bar none (Sephiroth be damned).  I enjoyed his part immensely, and I'd still like to see more of him in a future game (which will never happen).
> 
> (Did I use enough parentheses in this post?  No?)



You know, I'm not sure I can disagree with you there. I haven't played VI, so I can't speak to those characters, but of every FF I've played, included gaiden entries, he may be the single best character period. It was heartbreaking to watch his story. 

I mean, Cloud's story arc was amazing also, but I'm not sure I really understood everything that happened in the game until years later through reading and experiencing the other FFVIIs. It could have been because I was so young, but I think there were some issues with the writing as well. If those were fixed, then it may be that Cloud unseats Vivi for me. 

I would say with main characters, Cloud's story and development is by far the best with Tidus and Cecil close behind. If we include gaiden entries, then Ramza's tale was great, and I really enjoyed the progression of Squall's character in VIII. Vaan's story...oh wait, there wasn't one, and other than growing up slightly, he never really matured much either. 

In terms of love interest characters, Rinoa and Tifa are tied for me. Tifa's loyalty and doing what she believed in even when she couldn't count on Cloud was always amazing, and Rinoa's persistence to crack the shell of Squall was great. I never really thought that Rosa did too much and like I've said several times, I never played VI so I can't speak to those characters. I didn't really care for Yuna as a love interest character. 

Here's my list of "Most Well-Done Characters"

Vivi
Cloud
Tifa
Aerith
Cecil
Squall
Red XIII
Kain
Yuffie
Yuna (not as a love interest, but in general)
Quistis
Rinoa
Dagger
Vincent
Cid (of VII)
Freya
Auron
Baasch


----------



## Philip Overby (Nov 21, 2013)

My favorite leveling system would either be FFX or FFVII. I just really liked the flexibility Materia gave your characters. And I enjoyed X's system because you could have more control of what skills you wanted to pick for you character. I liked XIII's system as well because it was similar. However, I also have to give a nod to the skill system in FFVI. I just liked how each character had a specific skill (Blitz, Swordtech, etc.) and you could build up their magic by attaching Espers to them. FFIV had a similar style as far as giving unique skills to certain characters.


----------



## teacup (Nov 21, 2013)

> IMO, not only is Vivi the best part of that game, he may be the best single character in the series bar none



Completely agree, as you could probably tell by my avatar/profile pic. I also loved how he doubled very nicely with Steiner.

@Phil, though I loved FFIX's system (albeit very simple) I think VII's was better, solely because of the limitations of the materia slots. I spent a long time assigning the materia to which characters I want each time, and loved it.


----------



## Philip Overby (Nov 21, 2013)

I don't tend to promote my blog on here, but I wrote about Final Fantasy XV and was wondering if any of you Final Fantasy Fanatics could share some input about that upcoming game. I personally think it's a great step in the right direction for the series, but I can see some old school purists don't like the shift away from turn-based style to a more action RPG style popularized by Elder Scrolls or Kingdom Hearts as of late.

Philip Overby's Fantasy Free-for-All: Fantasy Gaming: Final Fantasy 15 Thoughts


----------



## Zero Angel (Nov 22, 2013)

I remember being excited about FF Versus back in my senior year of undergrad. That was in 2007.

Wow. 

I can't wait to watch the video, but your commentary was interesting, and I thought you did a good job with the classic references. I especially liked the meteo bit. 

I don't have a problem shifting away from turn-based, but I am very worried that the story may be cliched. I don't feel that they usually end up with bad storylines in their games, but I present "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" as the last time I watched them try to be more mainstream. 

Still, I am hoping that the long production time will have resulted in a great story. Like you, I am devastated that I will have to wait in order to play. But well, I actually just got XIII-2 (technically I won't get it for another month) and I still need to finish a couple of the older games (IX and X-2).

(Aside: You live in Japan and can't speak Japanese? How's that work?)


----------



## Philip Overby (Nov 22, 2013)

Thanks!

Yeah, from what I've gathered of the story, it looks like a Romeo and Juliet style story. Which could be cool for a FF game. I have a feeling the story won't be as convoluted and some of the recent entries. At least I hope so anyway. I like a more concrete story myself.

Well, I work here as an English teacher, so it's kind of a bubble I live in so to speak. I do speak enough Japanese to get by, but I can't understand the vast majority of things I hear. Plus, my wife is Japanese so she handles a lot of the more complicated issues for us. I really need to study more, but just other things are more interesting to me at the moment.


----------



## Daeldalus (Nov 24, 2013)

1. FF XII - I admit that Vaan may be the worst MC to ever grace a FF title but the rest is amazing. the scope of the world, the politics and the battle system were all top class. plus the game had the best side quests of any FF game.

2. FF VII - Classic, great story, great characters, great battle system - enough said

3. FF V - many people overlook this game. good cast, great classic system, and plenty to do without ever getting boring

4. FF X - everything has been already said about this. weird MC, enveloping story and plenty of reason to keep playing. Oh and Blitzball is awesome.

5. FF VI - Kafka is the best villain in the FF world. battle system was a bit constrictive but the story made you forget the small bad things in the game.

only FF XII makes my all time rpg top five.................................... Earthbound is #1 argument over.


----------



## Zero Angel (Nov 24, 2013)

Daeldalus said:


> 1. FF XII - I admit that Vaan may be the worst MC to ever grace a FF title but the rest is amazing. the scope of the world, the politics and the battle system were all top class. plus the game had the best side quests of any FF game.
> 
> 2. FF VII - Classic, great story, great characters, great battle system - enough said
> 
> ...



I think most people overlook V because it wasn't released in America. 

Aside: I loved my time with Earthbound and it is definitely in my top 5 SNES games (if not top 3 along with Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG), but everything I hear about other entries in this series makes me glad that there's not more Mother in America to ruin my memories of this game.


----------



## Daeldalus (Nov 25, 2013)

Zero Angel said:


> I think most people overlook V because it wasn't released in America.
> 
> Aside: I loved my time with Earthbound and it is definitely in my top 5 SNES games (if not top 3 along with Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG), but everything I hear about other entries in this series makes me glad that there's not more Mother in America to ruin my memories of this game.



I completely agree. I played mother 3 and stopped halfway mainly because it wasn't enough like earthbound for me and chrono trigger rules


----------



## Philip Overby (Nov 26, 2013)

So I proposed this idea in another group, but what would you personally like to see in Final Fantasy 16? It's years from being released obviously, but must already be in the early stages of development. If you could tell Square Enix what you want to see in this game (most likely for Xbox One PS4) what would you want to see?


----------



## teacup (Nov 26, 2013)

> So I proposed this idea in another group, but what would you personally  like to see in Final Fantasy 16? It's years from being released  obviously, but must already be in the early stages of development. If  you could tell Square Enix what you want to see in this game (most  likely for Xbox One PS4) what would you want to see?



I personally want it to be more like the older games, like IX, but of course I would say that 
When I played XIII it didn't feel like Final Fantasy to me. I want that changed. I want it closer to how it used to be - and yes, I want turn based to come back.


----------



## Philip Overby (Nov 26, 2013)

I like turn based myself, but I don't see them returning to that unless they make a FF for a handheld system like the Vita. I'm more concerned about the gameplay and storylines being interesting than anything else. More on this later.


----------



## teacup (Nov 26, 2013)

> I like turn based myself, but I don't see them returning to that unless they make a FF for a handheld system like the Vita.


Sadly, I agree. I'd love to see one of the main series games as a throwback to the oldies. 

As long as it "feels" like a Final Fantasy game and has good gameplay/story, I would be happy, though. 




A youtuber made a video making fun of FFXIII's more linear gameplay, which I found hilarious:


----------



## Zero Angel (Nov 26, 2013)

I definitely would like to see a fantasy game. I don't mind sci-fi elements, but I prefer nothing too much past gaslight fantasy in terms of world-building...why do I prefer games like this? BECAUSE OF FINAL FANTASY.

I don't need turn-based, but I definitely would like choices in character ability development and it would be nice to have characters that I care about substantially. 

Also, I'd like to see a positive portrayal of a church or religion  ...not that I mind the whole, "church is corrupt" storyline, but I'd like some variety.


----------



## teacup (Nov 26, 2013)

I would also like them to go back to dialogue boxes, but I highly doubt they will. I'm just being nostalgic here, really.


----------



## Zero Angel (Nov 29, 2013)

I'm OK with subtitles, but I wish that you got the little anime pictures of the characters when they spoke like you do in, say, Tactics.

Anyone else wonder why we had COMPLETE control of the colors and effects of the window in FFVII, but have never had this since?!?!

I remember having every corner of the window being a different color in VII and getting this awesome prismatic effect from the colors. Older games allowed us to change the color of the entire window (with varying levels of customization), and then from VII on, nothing.


----------



## Philip Overby (Nov 29, 2013)

Yeah, I remember being able to do the colors like that. I usually just left it the default blue though.

Shifting gears, has anyone ever heard of Final Fantasy Dimensions? It was apparently a mobile game that slipped under my radar anyway. It sounds like it has some old school flavor to it (jobs, crystals, etc.) so I'd love to see it available on more platforms somehow. Maybe Steam or something like that.

It's a retro game that many have been clamoring for. May be spoilers inside, not sure:






I'd like to note the game kind of looks like a really good RPG Maker project.


----------



## Writeking (Dec 3, 2013)

1. FF6- Great Cast, Awesome music, Compelling Storyline, This game is the standard to which all new FF's should strive, Though my only complaint is the second half of the game could have had more substance. One of the easiest games in the series when it comes to leveling up. Celes, Mog, Terra, and Cyan were my favorite heroes of the story, Kefka made a great and interesting villain.

   2. FF4- Wonderful Story, Great Music, One game that I could play over and over again. Edge was my favorite character because of his story arc. The Four Fiends were probably the best villains in the whole game. Scarmiglione, Kainazzo, Barbariccia, and Rubicante made for the best boss battles.

   3. FF7- Music, Story, and Replay Value. Vincent and Cid were my favorite main characters, and The Shinra and Turks were the coolest villains along with Sephiroth and Jenova

   4. FF9- I loved the music and the story. The Steiner and Beatrix pairing was in my opinion the highlight of the game. Freya was great too. Didn't care much for the villains of the game.

   5. FF8. The story and the music were the best part of the game, along with the summons. For the main characters my picks are Quistis and Zell. For the Villains, Ultimecia and Seifer


----------



## Philip Overby (Dec 3, 2013)

I'm playing FFIV: The Complete Collection right now on PSP. I already beat the original IV, but now I'm playing The After Years, which follows Cecil and Rosa's son Ceodore. So far I'm really liking it. For those who are looking for an old school FF game to play and you loved IV's world, I'd definitely recommend it.


----------



## Zero Angel (Dec 4, 2013)

Phil the Drill said:


> Yeah, I remember being able to do the colors like that. I usually just left it the default blue though.
> 
> Shifting gears, has anyone ever heard of Final Fantasy Dimensions? It was apparently a mobile game that slipped under my radar anyway. It sounds like it has some old school flavor to it (jobs, crystals, etc.) so I'd love to see it available on more platforms somehow. Maybe Steam or something like that.
> 
> ...


There's nothing wrong with RPG Maker games!  

It looks like a great game, but I can't afford the $20 price tag. The episodic storyline is a drag though, and I don't particularly care for linear style as much. I like to power game.


----------



## Sparkie (Jan 22, 2016)

Sparkie said:


> Anyone else think FF VII is a bit too highly praised?



With the upcoming FF VII remake being featured by a lot of gamer media, I think it may be time to revive this thread.  What are your thoughts on the remake, and are you excited to see the new version?


----------



## Miskatonic (Jan 28, 2016)

Haven't played anything beyond 9. Grew up with that series, starting with the NES when it was brand spankin' new. 7 is overrated and 8 is just absolute garbage. I can't say I hate many other games more than FFVIII.

FFII and FFIII (US titles) are my favorite.


----------



## Smiddlesworth (Feb 7, 2016)

Any FFXI fans out there? I had so many good memories playing that game back in the early 2000s. Played on the diabolos server, Apocolypse Linkshell.


----------

