Concerning Final Fantasy 7, 10, and 12.

[DocEvil000]

I've been playing Final Fantasy since I got Final Fantasy for my NES back in oh... 1990ish. Got the strategy guide for it and then finally had the $60 I think it was for the game and boom! I had it, played it, and played it, and played it, and played it, and what seemed like an eternity later (and also probably sometime in '92 as I know I restarted a few times for various reasons) I finally beat it. It had nameless characters and a decent plot for a 256kb game.

Since then I've played all the other entries in the series with the exceptions of being the two MMOs 11 and 14. And I'll go over what I did and did not like about all of them in brief explanations and these being based on the ORIGINAL versions of the game not any of the remakes.

2: The leveling system was awkward and frustrating at times, but I liked the use of the keyword system I wish it would have made a later return. It also had a sad story killing off most of those you met.

3: The Job system was fantastic but needed the refinement found in 5. Story was awkward and left you roaming around at times feeling like you were playing Dragon Warrior 2. Also hated the Dragon Warrior like grinding between areas to not be fucking owned by regular mobs.

4: Fucking epic, deep character development in Cecil and average in the others for even book standards. All that major plot events tie in at the end (except uh how do those who will them selves to stone that can't be turned back be turned back later?)

5: Interesting plot with good development late game of how the world came to be and the past stories of the characters. The amazing Job system and all of it's infinite wonder come into plan in a much more refined system than 3. Guessing what party config to use on some of the fights was kinda confusing at times.

6: Oh hey look, it's the beginning of LETS EVERYONE USE EVERY FUCKING SPELL IN THE GAME REGARDLESS OF WHATEVER REASON THEY SHOULDN'T! Fun game, loved the different skills for each class. Also had IMO the best bad guy of the series, Kefka.

7: More of 6's skill/everyone can use everything setup. Character count reduced to three, bleeehhhhh. Confusing ass story, and a lame bad guy and hero. Oh yeah and a tree-hugging Mr T wanna be.

8: Couldn't stand the battle system after about 15mins. Have never had a desire to turn on again

9: Goes back to what mad 4-6 fun! Okay but interesting story, okay character development, fun side games.

10: The beginning of the uberlinear FF games. Not a bad thing, or at least I don't think it is. I enjoyed the game despite it's horrible bad acting and the bad cloths. The mini-games were fun, the battle system was amusing, I loved how you could see how different actions affected turn order and I _LOVED_ how when you summoned creatures you fought AS that creature.

12: Didn't play but 15mins. If I wanted to play Star Ocean, I'd play Star Ocean, not Final Fantasy.

13: I liked it after the battle system unlocked fully. I died a hell of a lot too, more than any other RPG I've ever played. The battle system kept you on your toes having to watch for ques all the time on what to switch up your paradigms. The story, while not great was compelling and jesus, that game had a lot of FMV.

I could go more in detail but meh, I want bed.

 

[Defense]

ALL, and I mean ALL final fantasy games are horrible. Empty, soulless creation with as much depth as a cardboard cutout...

Gonna elaborate, or just leave this here like a pile of crap on the living room floor?

Kinda. There is no need to elaborate on something that is not worth the time to play but enough to comment on!

"It's not worth playing this game!"

"They're all shallow games!"

You need to work on your trolling Rainbow Dash.

I never troll. I just wanted to leave my thoughts on what I think is the worst series ever. My feelings are just as deep as the games but I still have them.

?

D'aww you're too adorable. You know I can't stay mad at you! *ruffles mane*

12: Didn't play but 15mins. If I wanted to play Star Ocean, I'd play Star Ocean, not Final Fantasy.

It's very different from Star Ocean, since Star Ocean has a habit of becoming "use skills to win" a few hours in the game. I heard it had much more in comparison with Dragon Age, but I wouldn't know myself not having played either of them.

 

[Latinidiot]

I liked 12 a lot. It was a big, ong game, and even though the story didn;t captivate me at a, it was fun enough to carry on.

 

[Shirokurou]

I loved 7.
8 is my favorite, but probably due to Nostalgia.
9, I still can't finish, even playing it on the PS3.
10 I absolutely loved.
12 was meh... The story sucked.
13 was OK.

Dirge of Cerberus was fuckin' awesome... for that type of game.
Crisis Core had great set pieces. Specifically the ending.

The price of freedom sure is steep.

We were never free. You just chose not to see the rails...

 

[Shodan1980]

I think one of the earliest posters had it right, some people come to the FF franchise on game z, (I was about to use the unknown quantity x there but realised that wouldn't work, stupid roman numerals) and they either hate it so never care, or grow to love it or one of the later games in the franchise. And once they fall in love with a FF game every subsequent change in later games feels a bit jarring cause its not like the previous entry that they held so dear.

Anyway, my two cents on the games:

7 I really liked though its only after playing Crisis Core and watching the movie that you really finally work out wtf was going on
8 was good but the way the enemy kept changing face made it really hard for me to care
9 I loved and the armour system was a superb tweak to materia
10 for me is the highlight of FF. Story was great, characters were entertaining, world was beautifully realised and I thought the Tidus/Yuna romance was fairly well done (and the laughing scene is bound to look awful out of context, but it's entire reason d'etre is that he's intentionally trying to look like a twat to break Yuna out of a funk if memory serves)
12 I started but I just really struggled to enjoy, gave up after 3 hours or so
13 I loved the story, didn't mind the combat system once you were allowed by the game to have a ravager and commando in the same party and thoroughly enjoyed the character's arcs

Also this, this is why I loved 13:


If you can follow whats going on in that the first time you watch it you're better than I

 

[Eefness]

ALL, and I mean ALL final fantasy games are horrible. Empty, soulless creation with as much depth as a cardboard cutout...

.................... well I dont like ponies ...................



See how useless that was, please elaborate.

That was not useless. :O I value your opinion and respect that you have your own and are not afraid to say what you think and care about.

Plus I learned something new from you, we are soon friends!

Ehhhhhhhhhhh ........ fiiiiiiiinnneeeee *Hugs*

 

[FalloutJack]

Oh, it's the Unpleasable Fanbase, always.

Final Fantasy 7 and 10 are fine and I've never even played 12, so I don't even know. What you're getting is a loa of contrived and one-sided opinions.

 

[Jerubbaal]

Are you serious? Final Fantasy VII was crystal clear when it came to basic story. You blow up a reactor, go to another reactor, help Aerith, save Tifa, and try to keep Sector 7(was that the sector?) from being crushed.

That's not a story, that's what you do. The story for the first 20-30 hours is as follows:

1)"Let's fight Shinra they're killing the planet!"
2)"The President's dead, but now his equally/more evil son is in power!"
3)"Let's stop fighting Shinra and instead go after Sephiroth because Cloud has some vague notion that he not only wants to destroy the planet, but somehow actually has the power to do so!"
4)"Let's fill in the backstories of Barrett and Red XIII with sidequests that last 3 hours long each!"

Basically the story falls about at #3 on my list. You have absolutely no logical reason to chase Sephiroth, mainly because as far as you know he has no ability to destroy the planet. Cloud just remembers (and falsely, I might add) that Sephiroth killed a bunch of people and rambled on about taking back the planet. At no point did Cloud have any reason to believe that Sephiroth had the actual power and ability to destroy the planet, making the party's decision to abandon their fight with Shinra utterly retarded.

And this isn't just me "overanalyzing." When I first played the gasme, my exact thoughts were "Wait, why are they going after Sephiroth now? They've clearly established Shinra as a threat, but they've done nothing of the sort for Sephiroth,"

And for the guy who mentioned that they made Crisis Core to explain the plot, the fact that you need 2 prequels to make sense of your story says a lot.

 

[Fugitive Panda]

I have a strained relationship with Final Fantasy, or more specifically, Square Enic. I can maybe manage to convince myself I'm having fun for a little while, but I eventually just give up. The spinoffs on the other hand I can play forever. The Tactics games, Crystal Chronicles, etc.

I own 7 and 8, but never got close to completing them for one reason or another.

10 I own and thoroughly enjoyed. I really liked it's linear progression, it felt like I was really on a constantly evolving journey, and they did a great job crafting and presenting the world. And 10-2 was fun as hell, I absolutely loved the fast-paced battles and the return of the job system.

12 was flawed, but I still love it. Everything about it is really underrated, it has a fantastic story that people seem to outright miss because it's not shoved in their faces, and a great cast that people seem to hate because they're not force fed their background. Granted, when I first picked it up I hated it too, for the same reasons - not enough cutscenes, Vaan, etc - but when I started playing it again later I had a blast and appreciated everything about it so much more. The Gambits and Licenses were the only real problem I had, since they seemed to ultimately invalidate your choices and effort.

Of course, that's not even touching the best FF, 11.

 

[DirgeNovak]

FF VII is a good game. The story is awful, the translation is disgusting and all the characters are completely unlikeable, but gameplay-wise, it's great.

FF X is my second favorite in the whole series. If it weren't for the terrible usage of voice acting (the problem isn't the actual voice acting, but the way the actors were directed, e.g. the laughing scene or all the reaction noises which Tidus and Rikku can't get enough of, as well as the weird pauses between lines of dialogue we see often in older games) and the existence of Rikku, it might have been number one. It also has the greatest combat in any FF game to date.

FF XII was the first FF game I played. I hated it in the beginning, but the story totally hooked me after about 5-6 hours, and the gameplay grew on me as well. I prefer most of the other FFs, but it's still a very good game. Vaan and Penelo can die in a fire, though.

10 had a great story, fun combat, and good music. My favorite in the series.
13 was a pile of steaming shit that I regret getting at midnight release. Worst combat in the series, VERY limited questing options, and WAY TOO MUCH LINEARITY.

I don't get it. Wasn't FF X as linear as XIII? You couldn't go back to previous areas for 95% of the game.

 

[JWRosser]

If you can follow whats going on in that the first time you watch it you're better than I

One of my favourite scenes in the game.

Anyway, I loved FFX, and thought that FFXII was still really good. The main character, Vaan, was a bit wank, but apart from that I really enjoyed it. Final Fantasy VII is also very good, but it's not my favourite - that title goes to IX.

Hell, I don't even think XIII is a bad game! I had fun playing it. Yes, it's the worst one, and at points it didn't really feel like a Final Fantasy game, but I still enjoyed it - although I traded it in as soon as I completed it, whereas I've kept all my other Final Fantasy games and enjoyed several playthroughs on each.

 

[Twilight_guy]

FF is really the biggest name in JRPGs. Obviously they are going to be talked about a lot and opinions are always divided so its just how the dice rolls.

 

[rvbnut]

I hate 7, I dont understand the love for it, I played it, beat it, got everything, then played the others again and found playing IX and X for the 4th time much better with storyline and characters. (ignoring laughing scene)

Yeah that laughing scene is pretty bad.

VII is good, I like the materia mechanic but not the best FF game I've played. X is my fav and XII is close behind. But I can see where people would fall out of the series once playing those games.

 

[Vibhor]

I loved 4 and 6 and thats it. My whole experience with the series summed up.

 

[Lullabye]

I liked 7. Was one of the first 3d rpgs i'd played and quite frankly the story was not much to be had. I did however get very involved with the characters so Aeriths death was probably the first time I ever cried for any fictional characters death ever.
8 I never played, I have a friend who plays it alot. I gotta say it doesn't look that appealing to me but then he says its good and i trust his opinion on these things.
9. Never played. Hear its good.
10.....I hate the characters. I cannot stand teh characters. I'm sorry, but no amount of epic story can get me to like those characters. Gameplay was good though.
10-2 I dont know what to say. Better than 10? Maybe. If so I can't tell.
11 never played
12 I LOVE THIS GAME. More specifically the story and characters. It comes together well. I just pretend Penello and Vaan don't exist whilst I ogle Balthier.
13 Most Linear FF to date. This game played itself(far more than 12 did) and holy christ who gave the go ahead for those characters personas? I have this inexplicable hate for vanille. She's like a fail version of Aerith. Lighting is alright, and its refreshing to have a decent female protagonist(in any game).
My favorite final fantasy, the one I think did it damn perfectly, is Tactics. War of the lions to be exact. Honestly I've played and replayed that game to no end and probably will for many years to come. Great story. Great characters. Great gameplay. Great everything.

 

[Spencer Taylor]

while i have never played VII I have played X and it is easily in the top twenty games list for me. XII Was not very good in my opinion though

 

[Richardplex]

Coming from someone who dislikes JRPGs, I thought FF& was alright, but overrated as heck, and while FFX had afore-mentioned scene, overall it was really good, though a bit repetitive with random encounters. The combat was great, the story good, the characters likeable enough, I liked it. I couldn't complete it because I'm a terrible player, but I still recognise it as a good game. The only JRPG I liked, bar Mother 3. And earthbound if I wasn't so terrible.

 

[Byere]

So far from what I gathered popular opinion is that: 10 and 12 were absolutely wretched horrible games that embodies everything that is supposedly wrong with Final Fantasy now a days, and opinions on FF 7 are like Nicolas Cage in that they don't do middle ground, it is either the greatest thing ever made or it is the single most over rated game in existence and is actually pretty bad.

Am I the only one who thinks every one of those people are talking out their asses? I mean I actually like JRPGs but I think the games range from "yea its pretty good I guess" to "I enjoyed it quite a bit".

I mean take for example number 12. Many criticisms aimed were incredibly over-blow when you get right down to it. Like the art style, I liked the it. It was different, lively, and brought a good deal of character to the world (and ummm yea, Viera, O_O ........ *droool*). People were going on and on that it didn't look like Final Fantasy. Wait what? Name one FF that looks like another (not including squeals). There was also a big uproar that "The game plays itself". Bull, the game ONLY did that if you abused the living crap out of the gambit system and ONLY to a Minor extent. I can think of far worse jrpgs than this (including #8, sorry but that game was pretty damn bad.)

Then you have the big huge debate over #7. Ok so when exactly did this even start? I dont even remember reading any discussions till far into the ps2 lifetime. Yea the game is above average (Others like Legend of Dragoon and Xenoblade did it better in the same console life-span) but I dont see where all the hate/idolisism is coming from.I tell ya the game is a bit nostalgic to me, I mean come on, I grew up playing it how can I not be? To my mind the game did the style more than competently but didn't break barriers.

Seriously where is this coming from? Or is it just because Squenix is just the punching bag of Rpgs? To me I consider each game to be a separate game unto itself with cross over themes, thus I judge each by the game its sel, and taken by themselves they are pretty good, not Fantastic, not Horrible, but just pretty good.

I, too, am a huge fan of JRPGs. I like them because I don't care for loads of action-based combat, I can't stand sports or war games (though I do like some FPS games), etc.
I don't understand why the popular opinion on 10 is that it's a wretched game. I thought it was quite good. X-2 was just a fanboy game though. Still, 10 wasn't bad in any sense IMO, other than the occasional point of bad voice acting/awkwardness (laughing scene...).

In answer to your question of "Name one FF game that looks like another (not including sequels)", I point you to Final Fantasy Tactics/Advance and then point you to FF12. Both are set in Ivalice, both having the same species, the only difference is the storyline, and even then it's about a kid who is pissed off at a bunch of armoured judges and has to fight the monarchy/government.
I fail to see how 8 was worse than 12 though. At the risk of sounding like one of these "popular opinion" people, I feel that 8, while it has its flaws, was a lot more solid than a game who's combat system (while based on turn-based combat) is effectively a hack-n-slash game.
As for why 7 is so iconic, it's because it was the first big game (4 discs and all) on the PS1 that used fully rendered backgrounds with polygon-based sprites. Many games stemmed art styles from that first use of it. Legend of Dragoon, as you exampled, made use of such an art style. As did other later games like Parasite Eve, etc. That aside, the story (while quite mundane and unoriginal, even at that point in time, ("Guy joins rebels, chases big bad guy, finds out stuff about himself and that he's lying to his friends, defeats bad guy") was well written and depthed well. The characters aren't forgettable like in most games. Even in FFVI, a game that is superior to VII, I can't even remember most of the player characters because they're so useless.

So yea, there are reasons why 7 is seen as iconic or over-rated, but, just like you said at the end of your post, it's only your opinion that should matter to you.