[Gaming] Final Fantasy

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For me, IX was an amazing game with the worst end boss of any game in the series. I mean, Kuja was weird, but at least he would've made sense as the last boss.
Final Fantasy 8 and 9 were both kind of ruined by their end bosses (10 as well) that had virtually nothing to do with anything or were just mentioned throughout the entire game. At least 12's main villain did end up being Vayne Solidor.
 
My problem, besides gaming ADD, is that if I pick up a game after it's been a while... I always start over. @_@
I hate that about myself. It doesn't even have to be that long of a while. Two months or so and I HAVE to start over. It just drives me crazy if I don't.

@Ravenpoe:

 
I hate that about myself. It doesn't even have to be that long of a while. Two months or so and I HAVE to start over. It just drives me crazy if I don't.

@Ravenpoe:

Frog and Magus were always on my team. It was the Frog and Magus show. Magus is the Vegeta to my frog's Goku. And not just because he's fucking drawn just like him.

But then Crono's drawn just like Goku... there can't be two Gokus...

Fuck it. Crono, you're demoted to Krillen.
 
Chrono needs a new game. QQ

And not some George Lucas addition on whatever the fuck will be the newest handheld of the month.
 
Did they ever release FF5 in the US on the DS? Because the only experience I've had with the game is the shitty, shitty PSX port. Long load times, tons of crashes, and more than a few bugs ruined the experience for me. Near the end, I was literally redoing hour-long sections because the game would freeze up near the end.
 
You guys are just haters.



For me, IX was an amazing game with the worst end boss of any game in the series. I mean, Kuja was weird, but at least he would've made sense as the last boss.
I think FF8 had the best music of the PSX FF games. Especially it's chocobo music which featured Nobuo Uematsu's then newfound love of his Fender Telecaster.

 
Did they ever release FF5 in the US on the DS? Because the only experience I've had with the game is the shitty, shitty PSX port. Long load times, tons of crashes, and more than a few bugs ruined the experience for me. Near the end, I was literally redoing hour-long sections because the game would freeze up near the end.
There's a GBA version.
 
Honestly one of my favorite things from the PS era on is that they started releasing Piano soundtracks.


 
Was disk 3 the part where you're like, captured and have to go on the weird villain's quest to that castle and you can't do anything else besides this one huge mission?

I remember not enjoying that part at all. I don't want to think about how long it's been since I've played it though.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
I know I'm 2 pages too late on this, but I've been sick, so feck off.

The funny thing about the Cloud/Aeris whatevermacallit... it was never an issue for me because I didn't much care for Aeris at all, and never put her in my party. It was always Cloud, Barrett and Tifa for me. I was more moved by most of the plotdeaths of main characters in the Phantasy Star series, really. Particularly in 2 and 4.
 
On the subject of 7, my ending party was Barrett and Cid, because I preferred their limit breaks over others. It did pain me to take Vincent out of my lineup, though.

And I think it was Yahtzee that pointed out that 7, while a good game in it's own right, was the start of the main FF series goin downhill. It became more centered on the story than the gameplay around then. I'm not sure if I agree 100% but I certainly see where he's coming from.
 
I'd have to play them again to be sure, but I think I agree with that statement. Final Fantasy from that point on slowly became more spectacle than gameplay.
 
And I think it was Yahtzee that pointed out that 7, while a good game in it's own right, was the start of the main FF series goin downhill. It became more centered on the story than the gameplay around then. I'm not sure if I agree 100% but I certainly see where he's coming from.
I think that's fair, though I think it would be more accurate to say that's when Square started thinking they were awesome at narrative by default, so any concept they came up with just rocked (when it didn't, really). So when every game had to have a spikey-haired pretty boy with sad exterior monologues, Square didn't notice that it wasn't that interesting (the best thing about Zidane in IX is that he didn't actually talk that much in comparison).
 

figmentPez

Staff member
On the subject of 7, my ending party was Barrett and Cid, because I preferred their limit breaks over others. It did pain me to take Vincent out of my lineup, though.

And I think it was Yahtzee that pointed out that 7, while a good game in it's own right, was the start of the main FF series goin downhill. It became more centered on the story than the gameplay around then. I'm not sure if I agree 100% but I certainly see where he's coming from.
To me Final Fantasy 7 was a realization of the series' descent into minutia and appealing to completionists rather than focusing on the game as a whole. The games were becoming more and more about having as many hidden easter eggs, collectibles, arcane knowledge and everything else that needs a strategy guide to figure out. As much as I like some secrets, I don't want a game that feels like it's become about those secrets rather than the game itself.
 
I dunno... I'd say FFXII focused a lot on gameplay. It's just that it was gameplay that a lot of people didn't like.
I always felt like "where's the other two people to control the other characters sanely?" Would be a lot better multiplayer, because it's more-or-less a single-player MMO, but could use a better UI. What I didn't like is the prevalence of mobs that if you didn't interrupt their full-heal, you could battle forever, and/or if you didn't have EXACTLY what was needed, go grind to get it. The grind in that game was really brutal IMO. And that was even with killing all the mobs you come across, you STILL had to grind a lot. Say what you will about 13, at least the grinding was MUCH less through most of the game (ie: non-existent until you get to Pulse, and even then it's not "grind" per-se, but a lot of running around for small quests).

FFV is under-represented in its awesomeness IMO because of how hard it was to play during or near its heyday. I played it first on a translated ROM, and it held up. I would guess the GBA version would be good too (heard bad things about all the PSX ports). But honestly, it's a storyline that "makes sense" and there's an overarching villain that actually doesn't change right near the end or anything. A real gem that too few have played. Just get past the name of the main character (Butz in a lot of translations, though Bartz is also kinda "meh" for a name).

FFVI did everything right IMO. The only JRPG above it for me is Chrono Trigger, though we've already slid enough into why we all loved that game. But as for 6, it was the combination of unique abilities PLUS customizable magic that makes it my favorite for battle system. With 4, while an awesome game, you were fixed at any one point in the story for how to do things due to forced party members. It's great that it re-shuffles your party regularly, giving a wide variety of experiences, but it is the same at any one point through any subsequent playthrough, hurting replayability. It's great that it's so awesome by default. But with 6, each character is different, but there's enough overlap through magic that you also feel like YOU are in control to a certain extent, without being the "wide-open" of things like 7 and materia, or even 3, 5, and whatever other ones had a Job system, where it's "the characters are all the same and it's 100% me what I do with them." I liked the balance 6 gave. You COULD generify them all and play them all "the same" in 6, but most of the time you didn't, though it did gravitate towards the "uber" characters (if I could have had 4 Sabins, I probably would have).

Overall, I agree that they need to figure out what types of games they're making. 7 was the beginning of the decline.
 
The funny thing about the Cloud/Aeris whatevermacallit... it was never an issue for me because I didn't much care for Aeris at all, and never put her in my party. It was always Cloud, Barrett and Tifa for me. I was more moved by most of the plotdeaths of main characters in the Phantasy Star series, really. Particularly in 2 and 4.
Dude, I loved PS4. The character deaths and the awesome music are very memorable to me.
Added at: 13:19
I dunno... I'd say FFXII focused a lot on gameplay. It's just that it was gameplay that a lot of people didn't like.
And what gameplay was prevalent in FF12 beyond pressing a single button? Or the tube vision that was spoon-fed to us?

Admit it, the game fucken suuuuuucked bro.
Added at: 13:23
The only JRPG above it for me is Chrono Trigger, though we've already slid enough into why we all loved that game.
Indeed.

And Earthbound....
 
It's hard to see Earthbound as a JRPG though, as it has so much "American Charm".

But yes, Earthbound was another one of those "look past the young audience looking graphics, you have an amazing game here".
 
You know another awesome thing about almost the entire FF series? Fantastic villains. Sometimes they weren't the "final bad" but damn were they a thorn in your side in an awesome way the whole way through. Usually overshadowed the good guys in terms of personality and likeability.

FF1: Garland. Who saw that coming eh? Easy 1st boss but then......!
FF4: Golbez. His story in my opinion is what cinches FF4 as one of the greats.
FF5: Gilgamesh, still currently my second favorite villain of all the games. "EXCALIPOOR!"
FF6: Kefka. Do I really need to explain? "THERE'S SAND ON MY BOOT! Bwee hee hee!"
FF7: Sephiroth. Forget the stupid community that faboi/fangurl him, he was awesome in his game and his story was solid.
FF8: Seifer. His story and his crew were probably more interesting/entertaining to me than the main cast.
FF9: Kuja. See Kefka but more effeminate.
FF10: Sin/Jecht. A real apocolypse feeling bad guy and the truth behind Sin was freakin awesome.
FFT: Every villain. Seriously, this game had a ton but they were all awesome. My favorite "visually" would probably have been the Marquis Elmodre stuff.
 
FFT: Every villain. Seriously, this game had a ton but they were all awesome. My favorite "visually" would probably have been the Marquis Elmodre stuff.
This. What a bunch of total pricks. And they were great. Even minor, unimportant ones, like the guy spreading poison from the desert, or Weigraf's ex-right hand, had their own unique personality to add to the game, and their own effect on Ramza.
 
Earthbound is easily my favorite JRPG of all time, but this is a Final Fantasy thread so I won't go on a tangent about it. Personally I have trouble picking a best FF soundtrack, as Uematsu is just amazing at cranking out some of the best game music you'll ever hear, but I think I'd have to go with IV and VII, all in all. VI is a close third, with X at fourth. The piano collections for these are all great and you should check them out if you can find them. My personal favorite album, however, is Final Fantasy IV: Celtic Moon.





Also, for the more metal among you, Powerglove destroys this FFIV medley:

 
This. What a bunch of total pricks. And they were great. Even minor, unimportant ones, like the guy spreading poison from the desert, or Weigraf's ex-right hand, had their own unique personality to add to the game, and their own effect on Ramza.
The brothers. Oh wow the brothers.... The things they did. Amazing villainy.
 
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