About Final Fantasy

[AbstractStream]

Honestly though, while FFXIII is a bit iffy in any respect it was still a decent enough game if you let yourself get sucked in. It's changes weren't welcomed and I understand that and I think too many changes were made between the normal FF type of game to this one. I will fully admit that to me, Hope is the worst character in Final Fantasy History though. There was absolutely nothing likable about that kid and I wanted him to die every single second of the game.
I did like Vanille though where most don't and also liked Sazh. The parts with the two of them together were the best parts of the game.

Completely agree with your post. You took everything that I was gonna say.

More people liked XIII than you'd think. The vast majority of people who played it and STUCK with it liked it.

I stuck with it. Even the grueling grinding at the end.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I completely boggled at the desicion to make FF13-2 I mean they do know that no one liked it...right?

In what universe can people be so utterly self congratulatory they act to ignore the opinion of those consuming their product. If your a chef and someone says they don't like broccoli you don't pile more on thier plate...

The only reason I forgave the linearity of FF-10 was becuase I liked the characters FF13 does not even have that saving grace.

More people liked XIII than you'd think. The vast majority of people who played it and STUCK with it liked it.

I played it up to the grand pulse hunting missions and then I couldnt take anymore. It was far to linear and the characters were grating.

 

[EmperorSubcutaneous]

Something that should be mentioned that hasn't: the music. Nobuo Uematsu. Music played a big part in Final Fantasy for me. He hasn't been involved in a large role in the music of FF since 11. Coincidence that the series has gone to utter shit for me ever since 10? Probably not.

I don't think any other game has ever had music matter as much the way FF did. Nobuo just knew how to make great music for Final Fantasy.

He did the entire soundtrack for XIV. And most of it is pretty good. (Minus the majority of the battle tracks.)

I personally really liked FF12 and thought that 13 was a decent addition to the series just rather average like 10 and 5, certainly not bad on the level of 10-2 or 11. I haven't tried 14 but it certainly seems to have the same problems as 11 had, namely Squeenix can't make multiplayer games for shit.

XI has actually consistently been one of highest rated games in the MMO genre. It has aged poorly since WoW made the genre so much more casual-friendly, but it's excellent for an EQ-era MMO.

 

[Velocity Eleven]

I dont understand this whole "not as good as they used to be"... if you ask me, they were great back in the day and they're great now

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I completely boggled at the desicion to make FF13-2 I mean they do know that no one liked it...right?

In what universe can people be so utterly self congratulatory they act to ignore the opinion of those consuming their product. If your a chef and someone says they don't like broccoli you don't pile more on thier plate...

The only reason I forgave the linearity of FF-10 was becuase I liked the characters FF13 does not even have that saving grace.

More people liked XIII than you'd think. The vast majority of people who played it and STUCK with it liked it.

I played it up to the grand pulse hunting missions and then I couldnt take anymore. It was far to linear and the characters were grating.

So what? JRPGS have a linear structure. And as for the characters, to each his own. I found most of them to be quite endearing, with a few obvious exeptions (Fang had no bearing on the plot until the end, and Vanille was Rikku 2.0).

In most you can go and explore areas, talk to people, do side quests. Dragon Quest 9 is a nice example of what I expect from JRPG or the original Suikoden. Final Fantasy 13 just seems like a movie with a corridor full of enemies in the middle of each cut scene.

Vanille was nothing like Rikku. Cool Cousin =//= vacuous bimbo

 

[Latinidiot]

There weren't good any JRPGs, EVER.

Oh this is going to be fun.

You should know better than saying things like this if you've been here over a year.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

To me a linear corridor game isn't an RPG it's just a 'story' if I can't explore and experience the world the creators have put me in then what's the point really?

 

[cefm]

1 was good. It had to be to start the series off so well. It was a real achievement given how primitive the genre and technology was at the time. Story made barely any sense, but it gave a sense of grandeur and world-wide exploration and scope. Plus tons of replay value with different teams (something the other FF's have totally crapped the bed on)

2-4 were not great. 3 had the most flexibility with "jobs", but no character development. 4 had the first "fixed" party with deep characters, but the overall combat system was flawed.

5 finally got the "job" system better, but again the infinite flexibility of the party members meant none of them had any character. The overall story was kind of cool and engaging.

6 had a wonderful combination of a "fixed" party with incredible characters and depth and an immense and dramatic storyline. Your party composition greatly affected gameplay, but you had flexibility to select which parties you wanted to use. Overall one of the best ever.

7 you all know - my one gripe was the stupid golden saucer games and chocobo racing you needed to do in order to get essential gear to finish the game. Perhaps the pinacle of regular FF gameplay, it also signaled the franchise's descent into stupid and frustrating mini-games and sidequests at the cost of main plotlines, and too much focus on cut-scenes instead of gameplay.

8 was an abomination. Total betrayal of the series and the fundamental tenents of RPG's. Scaling enemy levels up to match yours is a bullshit idea.

9 was a flashback in many ways to the cartoonishness of 1, and had a great story, although the main adversary was hard to look at. One of the best.

10 was a bold step into new technology and graphics, but needing to play blitzball annoyed the crap out of me. Also the new budget and technology allowed the writers to more fully render the personality of the characters. Unfortunately it was obvious that the writers had no idea how NOT to make the protagonist characters as annoying and insufferable as possible. This started another downward spiral of miserable characters being forced on an unwilling player base.

11-13 has been more of the same. Too much focus on side-quests and stupid games. Increasing restrictions on options and choices, probably driven by the inexorable necessity of driving you to the next 10-minute animated cut-scene. Abominably bad characters (even Japanese kids don't like whiny losers or wildly irrational idiots), and overall poor quality. Hopefully this is like the dolldrums between 1-6, but somehow I doubt that another Renaissance is on the horizon.....

 

[Pearwood]

XI has actually consistently been one of highest rated games in the MMO genre. It has aged poorly since WoW made the genre so much more casual-friendly, but it's excellent for an EQ-era MMO.

It was ok but god how the developers expected anyone to figure out how to actually do anything without hacking the game files to see what's programmed into it is totally beyond me.

 

[Dr.Aidennwitz]

I think every game in the series is good. I enjoyed XII, X was fun, and XIII was X with different combat and pretty graphics.
Really, if you don't like the changes to gameplay, thats fine. But if you can take that, I find that the stories arent really and better or worse than their earlier installments.

I like the changes to gameplay. Even the linearity (though, truth be told, there could be a bit more chatting with the lesser characters). I love the combat system. The story itself is good too, I dare say it's one of the better ones in the entire series. It's just the dialogues and acting that get under my skin. FFXII was miles and miles above FFXIII in this departament. And had more sidequests from the beginning.

More people liked XIII than you'd think. The vast majority of people who played it and STUCK with it liked it.

Yeah, I liked FFXIII overall. I even did a bit of endgame, I have the growth egg and I 5-starred half of the marks with pleasure. I just didn't enjoy the cutscenes at all, thanks to what I outlined above. And, considering the game is literally made of them, this made it one of the weakest in the series for me.

 

[Defense]

Final Fantasy 13. Words cannot describe how much I hate this game. The characters are crap, the story is crap, the combat is crap

Hey, OP just described Final Fantasy 2. Say what you want about Final Fantasy 13, at least it had polish.

There weren't good any JRPGs, EVER.

Take this, I heard it can get pretty cold under bridges.

 

[nukethetuna]

I honestly didn't think all of the new FFs were "terrible". Sure they're a bit different from the classic ones, but Square remakes the classic ones enough that if you want more typical JRPG fare, it's available.

XII had a drastically different combat system, but I enjoyed gambits and all that jazz. I just think it is a pity that they made Vaan the main focus (Apparently Basch was supposed to be the main character, but midway through they decided he didn't appeal enough to their demographic).
XIII I didn't particularly like, but it had incredible production values, and the battle system wasn't flawed, I just didn't care for it. It was a little too linear in both exploration and character customization for me.

My personal order is probably something like: V, VIII, VI, IV, VII, IX, X, XII, III, and the rest vaguely tied for last.

 

[EmperorSubcutaneous]

XI has actually consistently been one of highest rated games in the MMO genre. It has aged poorly since WoW made the genre so much more casual-friendly, but it's excellent for an EQ-era MMO.

It was ok but god how the developers expected anyone to figure out how to actually do anything without hacking the game files to see what's programmed into it is totally beyond me.

I think they just had higher hopes for the community working to figure everything out together. They really wanted everyone to cooperate, but it's hard to force that kind of thing. (Though they did try their damnedest to force it.)

 

[Retronana]

I always liked 12 despite the slightly annoying characters, the battle system was great as was how you leveled and developed your characters. 3 and 4 were my other favorites and I found 7 to be average, not bad, just average. 13 was pretty bad, and one of my friends insists it isn't and we just constantly argue. I usually give up at "The cutscenes are too bloody long and the combat's boring"
"I liked the combat and the cutscenes looked great"
You just can't win :/

 

[AbstractStream]

Honestly though, while FFXIII is a bit iffy in any respect it was still a decent enough game if you let yourself get sucked in. It's changes weren't welcomed and I understand that and I think too many changes were made between the normal FF type of game to this one. I will fully admit that to me, Hope is the worst character in Final Fantasy History though. There was absolutely nothing likable about that kid and I wanted him to die every single second of the game.
I did like Vanille though where most don't and also liked Sazh. The parts with the two of them together were the best parts of the game.

Completely agree with your post. You took everything that I was gonna say.

More people liked XIII than you'd think. The vast majority of people who played it and STUCK with it liked it.

I stuck with it. Even the grueling grinding at the end.

OH God, the endgame was ridiculous. Easy final boss, though.

Haha yeah, I spent hours in the Steppe just grinding. But it was worth it. And honestly, even though I like the game, I think I haven't replayed it just because of the endgame ><

 

[Judgement101]

There weren't good any JRPGs, EVER.

Ummm Persona 4?