Final Fantasy, anyone?

[Rosée]

I didn't find any thread about Final Fantasies in general, so here it is!

 

What are your favorite and least favorite FF, which ones have you played, etc.

 

 

So I didn't play them all (yet), I only played 2-4-7-8-9(partly)-10-X2- and I tried 12, but I got bored after 5 hours. =/

 

Favorite game: FF7, hands down. It's been my first RPG ever and it still remains my favorite after all this time.

 

I love the whole story in FF7, even though in my opinion it's the saddest story in all the games I've played so far. Especially with Crisis Core, in which I wept way too often >_> The characters are charming and endearing, and the bad guys are really cool. The music is also wonderful.

 

Least favorite game: FFX-2, or maybe FF2.

 

I don't think I need to explain myself for FFX-2, most people disliked this game in general and in fact I know only one person who liked it, and it was because he was obsessed over Rikku -.- Silly girls changing clothes and stupid annoying characters (LeBlanc and co.) are a total turn-off for me. And FF2, well, the lack of a story is a turn-off too.

 

In general what I look for in a game is a good story and a good world to set the story in. FFX's world was very magical for me. And I know people say that FF12 has a great story, but it takes too long to start, and I just can't find the motivation to go on then =/

 

What else.... Would you sell your soul to the Dark One in exchange for a remake of FF7? I totally would! That, and for a cookie.

[SinisterDeath]

FFVI is hands down, the best FF ever.

You may know it as FFIII on the SNES, but it is infact, FFVI.

Has a great cast, and deals with some content that was definately not the norm for games back then.

 

Aka, the 'bad guy' is a guy you WANT to hate, not like Sepiroth cause he killed Aerith, no, this guy you want to hate, because he KILLED an entire city by poisoning there water, Enslaved one of your friends, and destroyed her people.

 

And heres another thing.

Of all the Final Fantasy games, and hell out of most RPGS, the BAD GUY actually, WON. ;)

[Rosée]

I've been hearing only good comments about FF6, but I can't find the game around here. Now you make me want to play so badlyyyyy

[SinisterDeath]

ps1 version, I think its Anthologies, has 5 & 6 on the disk, you can play it in your ps2, or yoru ps3 if you have one.

[Rosée]

Oh yes, I've heard of this somewhere before. And I don't have a PS3, only PS1 & PS2.

[SinisterDeath]

You can probably find a copy online real easy, but if you go local, look up your local game-retailers, that aren't gamestop/ebgames/ect. Though they 'may' have it, but it would be really rare.

[Rosée]

Yeah, I figure Amazon or Kijiji.ca will be my friends.

[reyler]

They redid FF6 for the GameBoy Advance a few years back, too.

 

Kefka was also important in that he was the first FF villain to have a personality, unless you count Gilgamesh. I always felt they were trying too hard with Sephiroth, but then, I never liked 7 anyway.

[Rosée]

It's on GBA too? Wonderful! It'll probably be easier to find this way...

 

I agree that Sephiroth didn't have a very developped personality. Even back in Crisis Core. But I find quite funny that he is so absolutely evil. Destroy the planet just for the sake of Mother. Period. No more reason. No grudge against Hojo or the Shinra. THE PLANET BELONGS TO MOTHER, THEREFORE IT SHALL BE DESTROYED. Very simple-minded, when you think about it My favorite quote ever from Sephiroth: "What I want, Cloud, is to sail the darkness of the cosmos with this planet as my vessel; just as my Mother did long ago"

I can't help but laugh like madman every time I hear that. Can you get more evil than that? (well I guess you can, but shhh!)

 

But okay, enough with my Sephiroth obsession--

well you gotta give it to him, poor Sephy, his parents were insane scientists who injected him with Jenova cells and who never gave him any love or affection; he grew up feeling different from the others, fed with lies by the Shinra and all, and then his friends start disappearing, and then he learns he's actually some kind of monster. It's no wonder why he turned like THAT, poor Sephy. I actually felt very bad for him while playing Crisis Core...

 

OKAY, ENOUGH WITH MY SEPHIROTH OBSESSION NOW. MY APOLOGIES.

 

BUT IT'S ALL HOJO'S FAULT! IT'S ALWAYS BEEN HOJO'S FAULT!

No seriously, nothing sad would have happened to all of them if Hojo had never existed. Bloody asshole. We should hand him over to Semirhage for sweet torture!

 

Okay seriously, enough now.

 

 

Kefka and Gilgamesh are in which FF? Haha, I realize that I don't even remember the meanies in FF2 and 4 -.- Shows how unimportant they were to me. Anyway, villains with personality is always good in my book. I usually have a certain fascination for evil characters, in most stories my favorite characters are always the meanies. They're funnier. And sexier. (Except for Padan Fain. That one is definitely NOT sexy.) In most FFs though, most villains are not good enough for me. If the villain in FF6 is better than others, then it's definitely worth playing.

I remember I liked Kain pretty much in FF4, who was half-good half-bad.

 

Oh, speaking of boring villains. Seymour makes such a gay villain! (nothing against gays, I just can't find a better expression) Yunalesca was funnier.

[reyler]

The GBA release also adds a bonus dungeon and some additional summons.

 

It's not that Sephiroth didn't have a developed personality, it's that he was built out of cliches. To paraphrase Brian Posehn, it's like a bunch of cliches decided to put on a man suit and go for a walk. (Brian Posehn was in that instance describing himself to appear to be made of farts)

 

Kefka was the primary villain of FFVI. He had this evil clown schtick. Gilgamesh was the right hand man to Exdeath of FFV, and was infinitely cooler, which is why Gilgamesh keeps popping up in other games and Exdeath doesn't. My favorite FF villain, due to appearing in my favorite FF game, is Kuja. Also, the Judges of FFXII, while not particularly interesting characters, were at least hella cool looking.

 

Everyone craps on Seymour. It didn't help that he wasn't actually the plot-relevant Big Bad, he just thought he was (the plot-relevant Big Bad of the game being a glowing inkblot with no lines or character). It also didn't help that every character in FFX sucked except for Auron.

[SinisterDeath]

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_VI#Kefka_Palazzo

 

Kefka Quotes

"Oh? Then...welcome to my barbecue! Hee-hee-hee! "

"Once Leo's gone, I can turn this water into a flowing river of posion! Anyone who touches it'll be pushing up daisies! Hee-hee... "

"Wait," he says... Do I look like a waiter?"

"Hee-hee... Nothing beats the sweet music of hundreds of voices screaming in unison! Uwee-hee-hee!"

 

"I'm a god! I'm all-powerful! Uwee-hee-hee... I'll collect more Espers I'll extract their magic... And then... ... ... I'll revive the Warring Triad! I've already drained all your powers! You're useless to me now! You too! Take a hike! "

 

"Read my lips - mercy is for wimps! There's a reason "oppose" rhymes with "dispose"...If they get in your way, kill them! "

 

"Ouch! B-blood... Blood! Blood!!! You vicious brat! Argh... Grrr...! You know, you really are a stupid... Vicious... Arrogant, whiny, pampered, backstabbing, worthless... LITTLE BRAT!!! "

 

"Run! Run! Or you'll be well done! "

 

"I will destroy everything... I will create a monument to non-existence! "

 

"Bleh! You people make me sick! You sound like lines from a self-help book! If that's how it's going to be... I'll snuff them all out! Every last one of your sickening, happy little reasons for living! "

 

Really, he is, IMO the best villian of all time. If only because he was the power-behind the power, that usurped the power, and atually, WON, and the only reason the game ends the way it ends, is because he was 'bored'. ;)

[Elend]

They redid FF6 for the GameBoy Advance a few years back, too.

 

Kefka was also important in that he was the first FF villain to have a personality, unless you count Gilgamesh. I always felt they were trying too hard with Sephiroth, but then, I never liked 7 anyway.

 

It really depends on what we consider a FF villain. Golbez predates Kefka and Gilgamesh, clearly has a personality, but wasn't the end-game villain nor was he a villain throughout the entirety of the game. It should be noted that Square, for whatever reason, picked him instead of Zeromus to represent FFIV along with Cecil in Dissidia.

 

As for FFVII I agree. Very meh for me. Not bad but not particularly good either.

 

For me though I say FFVI and then FFIV. The rest are pretty far off in the distance in terms of the games. Though I did rather like FFIX.

[ErnoGee]

I'd have to say that despite its many shortcomings, I still like VIII the most. Yes, the characters are all really emo about everything, and Seifer is really bad at being bad. But it was the first one I ever played, and thus has a veto over any of the others.

 

Also, I know people tend to love VII the most, but to me it has only ever been above average. Then again, I don't hate X-2, so there might be something wonky in my head.

 

I've tried some of the earlier ones (before VII), too, but only in *cough* not-altogether-morally-acceptable-form *cough* on PC, which doesn't, to me, really work as well as on a console.

 

Maybe one day I'll have enough monet to get me some of that ancient FF goodness, But until then I'll have to console myself by trying to wade through XII, which is the one game in the series which I have problems completing, just because I hate everyone in it.

 

All in all, though, not a bad series at all.

[Sakaea]

Ok, everyone is probably going to think I'm a bit mental here....but there isn't an FF game I've played that I didn't fall in love with. I'll explain, in the order I played them...

 

FFVII: Ok, this was my first RPG ever, and I fell in love with everything about the game style. I was 11 or 12 when I played for the first time, and ever since, FF has been my favorite. I am currently replaying this one right now. I love the Materia and the summons. Currently on Disc 2, and about to start Chocobo breeding, and doing chocobo races and battle square at the Gold Saucer.

 

FFVIII: I almost died when I realized FF was a series, and I could play more of it. And being a 13 year old girl, I had a major crush on Zell. This is probably my second favorite FF game, for the length, all the things you can do and find, and for Triple Triad (very addicting). Loved the junctioning system and the GFs.

 

FFIX: Was slightly disappointed in the graphics at first, then realized the storyline and the characters more than made up for it. Again, massive sidequests, and a cool card game. I loved the synthesis shops.

 

FFX: My favorite FF of all. This one actually got me and my now-fiance together, because in high school, even when we weren't talking to each other, we could talk about Tidus and Yuna, and helping each other beat the game brought us together. I loved the sphere grid, the storyline, Blitzball (!), and Auron.

 

FFX-2: I thought the dress spheres were kinda dumb, but I liked the storyline, and loved the ending. And Paine was a badass.

 

FFXII: This one I really liked. My least favorite character is Penelo, but I loved Basch and Ashe. Balthier also gave me some good laughs. To me, the story doesn't start out slow at all. I liked the license system, and how each character can use any weapon. But Fran always ends up using a bow for some reason. I liked the hunts, and even tho the Espers are basically useless, it's a lot of fun to find them all, and see if you can see all of their attacks. I liked how they changed the battle system for XII.

 

FFXIII: A short FF, but a good one. Storyline rocked, leveling system was interesting, good characters (Hope irritates me tho), epic Eidolons, and the weapon leveling was very involved. Loved it, can hardly wait for XIII-2.

 

Yes, I am obsessed.

[Verbal32]

The GBA release also adds a bonus dungeon and some additional summons.

 

It's not that Sephiroth didn't have a developed personality, it's that he was built out of cliches. To paraphrase Brian Posehn, it's like a bunch of cliches decided to put on a man suit and go for a walk. (Brian Posehn was in that instance describing himself to appear to be made of farts)

 

Kefka was the primary villain of FFVI. He had this evil clown schtick. Gilgamesh was the right hand man to Exdeath of FFV, and was infinitely cooler, which is why Gilgamesh keeps popping up in other games and Exdeath doesn't. My favorite FF villain, due to appearing in my favorite FF game, is Kuja. Also, the Judges of FFXII, while not particularly interesting characters, were at least hella cool looking.

 

Everyone craps on Seymour. It didn't help that he wasn't actually the plot-relevant Big Bad, he just thought he was (the plot-relevant Big Bad of the game being a glowing inkblot with no lines or character). It also didn't help that every character in FFX sucked except for Auron.

 

^ Everything she said, heh.

 

 

For me, I like the original - FF1. I'm playing it on the Wii VC, and love it. I played the original on the Nintendo, and was psyched when the VC picked it up. I've played them all (up through X2, actually), and plan on finishing the newer ones eventually. My favorite video game series of all time, for sure.

[reyler]

Golbez only started receiving a personality with later revisions of IV. Otherwise he was basically Darth Vader.

 

I actually don't mind VIII that much. It's not a great game, but it's not OMG WORST GAME EVAR. It was very ambitious, and unfortunately its reach exceeded its grasp. I think a remake could vastly benefit here, streamlining some of the bigger gameplay issues like the draw system. Maybe if they made a setup where drawing magic during battle was passive, something you didn't have to spend a turn on. Also, the later camera system would get rid of the visual problem on all the PS1 games of moving 3D characters around on a pre-rendered 2D backdrop. AND, they could fix all the poor choices in the English script.

 

Also, I hate when I see people retroactively apply the word "emo" to VIII. Especially because it doesn't really apply. I mean, emo as a subculture didn't really exist at the time. Squall's hairstyle was actually pretty common. I guess people today forget what the late 90s looked like. And emo is supposed to describe people who are all sad and whiny and self-pitying all the time, right? - how does anyone figure that's going on in this game? Squall spends most of it being a standoffish jerk, not a mopey crybaby. I guess any behavior that isn't aggressively alpha male is considered emo. Pretty much every walkthrough I've ever seen rips on him for not spending the whole game trying to get laid. I guess I just don't understand people sometimes.

 

I hated FFX so hard. Like I said, Auron was the only character in that game who didn't suck. I hated the extreme linearity of the game, I hated the Sphere Grid, I hated the character designs (Auron and Yuna were the only characters in the entire game that didn't look like complete idiots design-wise), I really hated Blitzball. And then they did the whole thing all over again in XIII! Granted the cast in that game wasn't nearly as obnoxious (with the exception of Hope) and had some decent character designs.

 

IX is better than all the other games because it has Vivi in it, although XII has Balthier, so it's pretty close.

[ErnoGee]

Also, I hate when I see people retroactively apply the word "emo" to VIII. Especially because it doesn't really apply. I mean, emo as a subculture didn't really exist at the time. Squall's hairstyle was actually pretty common. I guess people today forget what the late 90s looked like. And emo is supposed to describe people who are all sad and whiny and self-pitying all the time, right? - how does anyone figure that's going on in this game? Squall spends most of it being a standoffish jerk, not a mopey crybaby. I guess any behavior that isn't aggressively alpha male is considered emo. Pretty much every walkthrough I've ever seen rips on him for not spending the whole game trying to get laid. I guess I just don't understand people sometimes.

 

Well, when you're right, you're right. I used emo mostly because what few friends I have discussed the game with seem to describe it as such (then again, we are too old to really be interested in the concept enough to know what it means). So, perhaps, I should've just said that I understand the shortcomings, but still like it. Anyhow, what I, and probably those aforementioned friends, understand by "emo", is that it means someone highly self-centered. And at least Squall and Seifer are that for quite a lot of the time, though the others not so much. Then again, the characters are what, 15 to 18? So self-centeredness can be expected.

 

And now I have insulted everybody under 20. So it goes. Maybe I should just go play Duck Hunt.

 

(Also, I have trouble using quote. I weep, I really do.)

[reyler]

Yeah, being self-centered has more to do with being teenagers than it does with being emo. Emo, as seen by one outside the scene, is basically taken from the teenage trait of feeling misunderstood and moodswingish due to the havoc being wreaked by hormone changes, and vastly overinflating the magnitude of one's problems. But your friends aren't the only people who describe the cast, and Squall especially, as emo. I've seen the same assertion levelled at Kingdom Hearts, which is patently ridiculous. I think it's a testosterone thing.

 

I think any remake of the PS1 games on a latter-day console should require spicing up the the turn-based row combat. You know, have the characters moving about the field instead of just standing in place. Mostly it would just change the visual aesthetic to sync with more active party combat as in XII, while functionally keeping the same system.

[SinisterDeath]

Well, 7 felt more Emo to me than 8 but i've never finished 8.

 

But, when I think Emo, I equate it to...

 

Teenagers who are sad and cut themselves because there parents didn't by them a Prius.

 

But also, you have the aspect that they are almost always sad, and depressed about something. And in 7, there are points where cloud you just want to choke the guy and say 'grow a pair!' :P

 

8, that had some real human emotions going on, guy loves girl, girl loves another guy, Girl gets turned itno an evil witch from the future...

[reyler]

You're a little off on the story in VIII - Rinoa was actively pursuing Squall after Seifer proved himself to be a slightly less-than-sane douche, and it took Rinoa going into a coma to break through Squall's abandonment issues and make him allow himself to actually invest emotion in another human being and ultimately refuse to allow the bonds he'd grudgingly developed to be broken by events outside his control. It was conveyed in a rather clunky manner in-game, but done right, it could have actually been a very powerful arc.

 

That's the thing with VIII - there's so much in that game that could have been awesome, but they fell a little short of the mark.

 

There's a little part of me that thinks that the reason so many people initially fell in love with VII was the fact that there was cussin'. Which was pretty much Cid-7's primary character trait, I think. I could never force myself to finish that game.

[Elend]

I remember Golbez having plenty of personality in the end of the game. He didn't have much at first but that was based on his situation which was, indeed, very Darth Vader-ish.

 

Admittedly he has personality only after his face-heel-turn, but he did have it. Not a straight villain so arguably not even applicable due to that. Besides, Darth Vader is just as valid a character type as genocidal maniac.

 

I'm basing this on my recollections of the original SNES version in English, the one that only came with the easy mode and released as FF2. Never played the remakes other than the PS1 one that didn't have any real differences other than higher difficulty and a cutscene.

 

This doesn't really change the fact that Final Fantasy VI is awesome and the best of the Final Fantasy games. But Final Fantasy IV also had its own impressive aspects for its time.

 

ETA: Basically, I consider Golbez an important upgrade from previous villains in the series that tended towards random beings of doom in some fashion or another. And, ultimately, FFIV ended with such a villain (though one with a more personal backstory than previous ones still) in Zeromus. But Golbez was the major attempt to build a human villain that, for whatever reason, did wrong not because he's evil and does it for the lulz but other reasons. This is also the first of the games with a truly strong main character in Cecil and set of diverse supporting characters. It really pioneered what FFVI would become.

[Mooka]

Definitely have nostalgia for the original Final Fantasy. (man I must be getting old) Mainly, the game had a certain difficulty factor. A simple pure potion was expensive. A soft potion was a fortune. If you couldn't get through a dungeon, then you had to crawl out of there, badly injured, out of spells, out of potions, etc. If you didn't know where to go or what to do you had to figure it out. Travel around. And the game had great replay value due to its class combinations.

 

Game may not be up to modern standards anymore but it was excellent for its time.

 

 

I would say FFVI is my favorite game. Just had so many great characters and a great story. And yes, Kefka is my favorite villian. His character develops throughout the game and you see the results when he finally takes power.

 

I would say FFVII is probably the best of the series. It doesn't have superior gameplay or anything, but the scope of the game was absolutely huge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will ask what happened to the series though. XIII is a really awful game. Horrid.

[SinisterDeath]

Don't think FFI had classes, I think that was actually... 2, 4 and 5?

[Elend]

FF1 had classes. FF2 had an interesting advancement system that was super easy to game. Basically your characters didn't level up, they gained stats based on what they did in combat.

 

But FF1 definitely had classes.

[SinisterDeath]

FF1 had classes. FF2 had an interesting advancement system that was super easy to game. Basically your characters didn't level up, they gained stats based on what they did in combat.

 

But FF1 definitely had classes.

 

just wiki'd it, ya your right, Though I was thinking more of a class system like in FF11, not the static kind that you 'pretty much' maintain through out the entire game.

 

I think I beat that game with everyone in the best armor. (Genji?) And another guy dual wielding Excalibers at cap level.