Final Fantasy Topic

[eclipse]

If I didn't list it, it means I didn't play it.

FF1 - eh. Didn't really feel like customizing.

FF3 - The story was blah, and the battle system became a chore near the end. No thanks.

FF6 - My first one, and it still holds a special place in my heart. I still think Locke is cute.

FF7 - I didn't cry during the scene where everyone expected me to; instead, I cried during Red XIII's story arc.

FF9 - The story was lighthearted, and Kuja was hot. Oh, and Steiner's concept was amusing.

FF12 - If Vaan/Penelo were replaced by Zidane/Relm, this game would've been amazing.

FF13 - The music is beautiful. The graphics are beautiful. The battle system amuses me. And unlike the majority of people, I don't mind the relatively closed environment. I get lost easily!

FFT - I didn't find the story enjoyable. I DID find the PSP remake bearable, because of the extra characters.

FFTA - My favorite in the Tactics series, it presents a, uh, different way at looking at a main character (love him or hate him, Marche isn't a typical MC). The races are a bit unbalanced, but I have a reason to use Nu Mou (even if they aren't as funny as Viera).

FFTA2 - New classes, new stats, mediocre story, and WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO THE NU MOU?!

Dissidia (and its sequel) - If it wasn't for the fact that I heard bad things about FF2, I'd get it in a heartbeat. Firion's cluelessness is cute.

[Esau of Isaac]

FF7 - I didn't cry during the scene where everyone expected me to; instead, I cried during Red XIII's story arc.

The scene involving Bugenhagen explaining his father is actually one of my favorite scenes in any game. I still remember the first time I saw it, and the way that the sound of the howls you hear matched up perfectly with when the music swells.

Right at :36, when it starts to pick up, that's the exact spot when the howling began. Etched that scene into my brain forever.

FF12 - If Vaan/Penelo were replaced by Zidane/Relm, this game would've been amazing.

I think I would have liked 12 if Vaan and Penelo just straight didn't exist and Basch or Balthier were the main character. As it stood I couldn't possibly put myself in Vaan's shoes but I have a thing for playing as "the protagonist."

Although I look back fondly on making a team of people that just used katanas.

Dissidia (and its sequel) - If it wasn't for the fact that I heard bad things about FF2, I'd get it in a heartbeat. Firion's cluelessness is cute.

Maybe I'm biased but I think you should at least emulate it. The battle system works by leveling up the things you use. So your strength goes up if you attack with a weapon, your HP goes up if you're hurt, etc.

It was such a neat concept and I thought they did well with it everything considered. Man, I still remember getting Origins as a present as a kid with the strategy guide and using it to help me progress through the beginning. I can still remember the smell of the paper of the book, and the weather that was out when I used the guide. What the hell memories.

[Constable Reggie]

My question for you is if you like the original so much, how do you find no appeal in the Advance titles? Just curious.

Part of the reason why I liked Tactics so much was the political undertone it dealt with, and really just the story overall. It was unique for a Final Fantasy, but in a good way. It felt grand, serious, and tragic. I loved the whole idea of following the point of view from the lesser known person, who does more than Delita but is left unrecorded and forgotten. Tactics advance, for what I played of it, throws all of that away. I can't stand the story or the whimsical tone in Advance after playing the original.

The second is the gameplay. I enjoyed Tactics' gameplay for what it was, but I felt it was pretty slow. Advance, as far as I remember, doesn't improve on it, and really just adds stupid bullshit to it, ie the judges and not being able to die most of the time.

I haven't played Advance 2 at all, since I read it basically just follows Advance's footsteps.

If you can give me a good argument for why Advance is so great compared to the original, I'm all ears, but I'm currently unconvinced from what I played of Advance.

Edited January 24, 2013 by Constable Reggie

[TheHeroGaol]

Part of the reason why I liked Tactics so much was the political undertone it dealt with, and really just the story overall. It was unique for a Final Fantasy, but in a good way. It felt grand, serious, and tragic. I loved the whole idea of following the point of view from the lesser known person, who does more than Delita but is left unrecorded and forgotten. Tactics advance, for what I played of it, throws all of that away. I can't stand the story or the whimsical tone in Advance after playing the original.

The second is the gameplay. I enjoyed Tactics' gameplay for what it was, but I felt it was pretty slow. Advance, as far as I remember, doesn't improve on it, and really just adds stupid bullshit to it, ie the judges and not being able to die most of the time.

I haven't played Advance 2 at all, since I read it basically just follows Advance's footsteps.

If you can give me a good argument for why Advance is so great compared to the original, I'm all ears, but I'm currently unconvinced from what I played of Advance.

Oh i completely agree as far as story goes. Tactics had a great story line, which was the best part about it IMO. Advance 1 was borderline retarded, but Advance 2 was at least decent.

Luso actually wanted to have fun and explore Ivalice before going home, whereas Marche was hellbent on getting the fuck out ASAP and dragging everyone with him.

Advance 2 actually made many improvements over Advance. For one, the laws weren't complete bullshit any more, they were more of a bonus then anything else.

For example, If you followed the one law (not up to 3 like in the first one) then you were given items at the end of battle. The stupid "Yellow card -> Red card" deal was thrown out the window.

That and if you broke the law, you lost the protection of your judge for the remainder of battle, which i thought was pretty cool. There are a lot of other changes too, it's actually a good deal different.

Also I never said that the Advance titles were great compared to the original, nor that they were better; just that they are great games on their own. I feel like the few things they do share with the original are the title and basic game play feel and MCs with crazy hair.

I respect your opinion, I just wanted to know why you had what seemed like such disdain for the Advance titles. Like i said, just curious.

I do think you should give A2 a try though, it's better than A1 IMO.

[eclipse]

Advance - Assassin are to that game as ninjas were to the original. . .but even more insane. Couple that with Concentrate and maybe a side of Elementalist, and you could have a team of bunny girls kill stuff. . .if the Stop Gunners allowed the enemy to get that close.

[bobflac]

Stop Gunners with Ultima.

As for FF:

1: Enjoyed Dawn of Souls twice through, never played original

2: See above, but only played through once.

;3: Never finished (NES), was OK. Enjoyed seeing the 8-bit sprites (Black Mage casts the magic that make the people fall down) but other than that, same complaints as everyone else.

4: I really enjoyed this game the first two or three times through. But then I had done everything, and have didn't touch it again until the GBA one, in which I did everything again.

5: Love it. For every single reason listed before. Both SNES and GBA, but SNES more. Galuf rules. Blue mages have never been as good. Freelancers rock. So does Gilgamesh. Haha, Gogo...

6: Favorite in the series. Love Terra and Relm. Shadow's entire story arc is probably my favorite of any character in the series. Kefka is just INSANEly hilarious (specifically in GBA) Really enjoyed Relm. Gave you Gau to challenge yourself (or break things if you really knew what you were doing). "You all sound like pages from a self-help book"

7: Great game, if over hyped. Still enjoy materia. Enemy-skill is awesome. Enjoyed Chocobo Racing. Only thing for me is, once Disc One is over, I find it very difficult to get the motivation to move on. I just do not like the second half of the game as much as the first half.

8: I spent more time playing Triple Triad then the actual game. Is that normal? Also, one playthrough had somewhere between 10 and 20 hours on Balamb. Smoked the rest of the game. I love overpowering people.

9: Words cannot adequately describe the respect I have for this game. Great character development. Quina (the exception) is comic relief and therefore exempt anyway. Eiko's story. Freya (who didn't really develop either. Dang, maybe not so great character development) Screw it, I still like Freya. Enjoyed Chocobo Hot and Cold. I just did not like Trance, at all. Seriously, I can't control when this happens, but when it does, I'll nuke a couple of small frys?

10: Played through til second to last dungeon. Memory card wiped. Played through again with no real complaints. Did not play that much Blitzball believe it or not. Obligatory "loved Auron

12: Balthier is easily one of my favorite video game characters ever. Period. Enjoyed the battle system, even if I really never stategeried with the Gambits cleverly enough. Great shout out to Gilgamesh. Hated that it tried to be a MMORPG without the MMO. Did (kind of) enjoy putting my controller down for the entirety of the last boss as Basch kicked the crap out of him with a big sword. Reminds me of another Final Boss Fight, just more epic...

Tactics :If I could only have one game for the rest of my life, it would probably be a Pokemon game, but after that, it would (maybe) be this. Nothing else to say that has not already been said. Other than Calculator in Chapter One is awesomely amazing. Like, Blake Griffin with a jetpack amazing.

Tactics Advance (my mom says I'm beautiful!): I liked it. Played through probably three or four times. Overkill is just peaches with me, so Assasin, Gunner, Morpher, I loved all of them (after I figured out Morpher anyway)

Tactics Advance Grimoire: Played through once. Ehh. It was OK. Can't remember much about it.

Really, I like almost any Final Fantasy, and my favorite really comes down to which ever one I am playing at the time. But if I am not playing through one, then Final Fantasy 6 is what I usually consider my favorite.

Edited January 26, 2013 by bobflac

[Esau of Isaac]

8: I spent more time playing Triple Triad then the actual game. Is that normal? Also, one playthrough had somewhere between 10 and 20 hours on Balamb. Smoked the rest of the game. I love overpowering people.

A man after my own heart. I fondly recall doing this in several games, such as restarting chapters in Rondo of Swords while still retaining any experience gained.

So much fun.

[vernalbee]

If i don't list it here, means i didn't play it! (i haven't played anything pre-6 i'm so sorry)

6-Probably my favorite so far! I love LOVE the characters, terra is one of my favorite characters every gossshhh. i love the story, it really hooked me! and kefka is one of my favorite villains EVER, wow. and the fighting was fun, too.

and celes's suicide attempt always gets me super emotional, dammit. :(

7- I'm in the middle (on disc 2) of playing the PC version right now, and i LOVE it! i tried not too, but i got really attached to aeris, auggghhh. (how do you not love her she is PERFECT) and i'm getting into the story as well, but i can't ever take sephiroth seriously, i've spent too much time making fun of him. and the materia system is really nice too.

8- Ehhhh, i just never got into this one. All the characters other then selphie and laguna bored me to death, and the story was really cool at first but i just sort of lost interest? and that whole orphanage thing felt totally out of left field. also the game mechanincs just made the game WAY too easy, what with the double and eventually triple (?!) spells.

10- I feel like this game would have been so much better if they had just made yuna the protagonist. I mean, really, if tidus hadn't constantly been coming in with his narration and his "this is my narration" the story would've been so much more intriguing and made more sense. but whatever, that's just my opinion. either way, kimahri was my favorite character. mechanics-wise, the game was really good! and of course, blitzball. everyone loves blitzball.

12- I loved this game! Vaan and penelo were adorable, i like the way vaan was sort of a witness protagonist. everyone else was badass, balthier and fran were perfect and i have a huge crush on ashe. also i want to give larsa a hug, i love his character. the story took me a bit of reviewing to fully get what was going on, but once i did, it was cool! the mechanics were definitely a change, but i liked them.

I have plans to play the DS version of 4 soon, just have to beat 7 first :) i've watched bits and pieces of 9 and 13, and i liked what i saw! Vivi is adorable, steiner is hilarious, and freya is badass! also zidane and dagger are kyoot. as for 13, snow is a douche, sazh is just great, and i am IN LOVE WITH LIGHTNING. omigosh.

and of course, final fantasy music is my one true love. 6 probably has my favorite soundtrack, but really i love them all. except for 13's vocal chocobo theme. seriously, what the hell was with that.

wow. loooooooong post, sorry.

[Constable Reggie]

7- I'm in the middle (on disc 2) of playing the PC version right now, and i LOVE it! i tried not too, but i got really attached to aeris, auggghhh. (how do you not love her she is PERFECT) and i'm getting into the story as well, but i can't ever take sephiroth seriously, i've spent too much time making fun of him. and the materia system is really nice too.

You don't see the problem with that? She felt very Mary Sue-ish to me.

[Ike-Mike]

Didn't we have the same thread just a while ago?

FFI: This says it all.

FFII: Among Zelda, Mario, Castlevania and other series where people are still complaining that the second game is terrible because it's different, I feel it's justified for Final Fantasy. Nonetheless, it paved the way for the SaGa series.

FFIII: Haven't played it, despite the 3D remake being widely available now.

FFIV: A neat game, I like the multiple overworlds and locales and I felt that the moments where party members were dropping out were justified. Sadly, its concept of a story-driven RPG has been outdone since.

FFV: My favourite. The customization is not only great because of the versatility in combat, but the game can go from strategically leveling your abilities to overgrinding yourself to the point where you can smear everything in most different ways. The GBA version might also be the only outsourced port where the extra content fits the original game naturally and expands on the core game.

FFVI: I like how the game was very effective with giving you more choice other than 'spam Attack' even in normal battles with the Espers and characters' special abilities, but it gets thrown out of the window in lategame when it's 'spam Ultima and your best regeneration spells.' The final battle still leaves an impression that still hasn't been quite replicated.

FFVII: I think the game deserves its hype and praise.

FFVIII: Haven't played it, and thanks to Spoony I probably never will.

FFIX: My favourite of the post 16-bit Final Fantasies. An amazing tribute to the entire series with a cast that actually felt human and I cared about and an easy to grasp leveling system. I always get really sentimental about the game not only because of that, but also because it has the honour of being the only Final Fantasy I actually beat.

FFX: I quit the game sometime shortly after Riku joined because it was dragging on so much. Actually I dislike FFX for many of the same reasons I dislike Radiant Dawn. At least the gameplay was still Final Fantasy at its core, unlike later games in the series.

FFX-2: This game is the perfect example how much content matters. If an original game with the exact same gameplay but with burly men as protagonists came out, nobody would be complaining.

FFXII: It looks and sounds really pretty, but the gameplay is an automated bore.

FFXIII: Automated battles, except you situationally switch your party's class setup. Linear tunnels, yadda yadda. The series has managed to stay consistently outstanding in its graphics and soundtrack, though.

Tactics Advance: Marche is the real villain.

Edited January 27, 2013 by Ike-Mike

[StrategistPockystix]

ah, the series that has been love-hate with me since FFVIII

Without going on a rant about how much I hate the George Lucas-like "new vision" for the series Square seems so set on doing; I will say that I have enjoyed the more traditional games of the franchise.

FFV and FFVI are in need of a true remake, not a port to some iOS device, a full on FFIVDS style remake.

As for the last great Final Fantasy game? That's Bravely Default!

[Life]

So I'm doing a full FFVI efficiency run and my findings are pretty funny. Like Cyan not being that trash in Zozo or base Rage Gau still holding up in Narshe. Fun stuff.

[Elieson]

Cyan holds up until just after Vector. Then his combat just sorta tapers

[Constable Reggie]

So apparently Final Fantasy: All the Bravest is one of the best Final Fantasy games made, citing excellent and depthful gameplay, extremely long length and high replay value, and the overall sense that Square Enix really does still care about making quality, heartfelt games.

[Esau of Isaac]

Yeah but since it's on the iOs I'm going to assume it's bad because I'll never play it.

So yeah.

[vernalbee]

Seriously?! Aw man, i probably won't get to play it...

I still do love the series, but i guess i don't follow it as closely as i used to? probably because i don't usually have access to the systems needed to play it these days.

[Constable Reggie]

Sucks man, you're really missing out.

[Esau of Isaac]

Sucks man, you're really missing out.

Why did you toy with our emotions like that

I am going to go cry in a corner now

[Constable Reggie]

Its not like Square Enix made any good FF titles the past year anyway. First with Final Fantasy 13-2, then Final Fantasy 13-2 Addon No.12: "We'll keep making more of this until you like it", to Final Fantasy VII PC: Bullshittingly excessive drm edition, and now Final Fantasy ATB, aka a money transferring software.

Edited January 31, 2013 by Constable Reggie

[Life]

FF13 findings at the start of Chapter 11 (finished Kelger's Cup):

Snow is hilariously versatile. Even without MED, he fits into any team comp due to SEN (a godsend against hard enemies) and COM/RAV. Plays defensive and offensive naturally, rather than Fang who requires a party with two RAVs to stagger stuff.

COM on Hope works because he gets Attack and Ruin asap. Like before any stat boosts. Makes Hope a great party member in defensive fights (no Haste).

Sazh is still god because of Haste. Best character in the game from Chapter 4 onwards. Lightning isn't so garbage but she needs a defensive set-up for any amount of suvivability. Fang is currently garbage but great for ultra defensive fights (behemoths that take off 90% of your HP with Thundaga even with starred Spark Rings). And Vanille has no damage out-put until -ga spells.

Upgrading accessories is better than weapons. More versatility.

[Momentai~]

I've only played FF7-10. I think it has been over 10 years since I last played a final fantasy game, but I remember the games fondly. I've found something to love about all of the ones I've played!

FF8 was supposed to be really easy? It was actually quite hard for me. Maybe it's because I level grinded a lot and didn't fully understand the junctioning system. iirc the monsters leveled up with your characters and grew much faster statistically than they did. Yeah, that's probably it LOL. I don't think it's normal to get 1hko'd by the t-rexaur bite attack, is it? And a lot of other stuff too...

I want to start playing some of the older ones but I don't know where would be best for me to start.

[Gold Vanguard]

So anyone planning on buying the FF13-3 Lighting Returns?

[Original Alear]

FF8 was supposed to be really easy? It was actually quite hard for me. Maybe it's because I level grinded a lot and didn't fully understand the junctioning system. iirc the monsters leveled up with your characters and grew much faster statistically than they did. Yeah, that's probably it LOL. I don't think it's normal to get 1hko'd by the t-rexaur bite attack, is it? And a lot of other stuff too...

IHKOd...I don't think so. But, close to that, probably.

T Rexaur is more badass than X-ATM-20, IMO.

I dunno if FF8's gameplay was really that good. You can always rewatch the tutorials though! You can also take SEED exams, which can largely be passed based on the information provided by the game, in the games tutorial menu, where you find the SEED exams, IIRC.

(The LP I had on is saying "oh, thanks for the advice. Is it seriously telling us how to do things? We're in the second disc, come on")

See 6:27 for Squall talking the party through junctioning for elemental attacks.

Note how the party doesn't respond with their names with these instructions, but Squall responds to the player's prompts as an instructor. See, Squall is a failure as an instructor, just like Quistis, but he does try, just like Quistis.

The mission parts are probably some of the easiest in the game, but I still like easy things that have music that makes you feel like you're under pressure (the music that plays while you're in Balamb Garden's basement, for instance).

Edited February 3, 2013 by Mouse

[Random User]

I love playing Final Fantasy games. My personal favourite's Final Fantasy IV, with VI being a pretty close second. Though Tactics Advanced is also a spectacular title.

[Esau of Isaac]

So anyone planning on buying the FF13-3 Lighting Returns?

I'd say no, but I've bought FFXIII-2 and I haven't even beaten XIII yet, so probably.

Why do I do this to myself