FF Preference

[Admonished]

I have a spin on a tired question. I"ve gone obver the topic many a time but I'd like to get the escapist view on it. What determines (aside from personal preference) why people majorly choose FF 7 and 10 as the best Final Fantasies? Now aside from FF: Tactics my personal favorite is 9 (also the first FinalFantasy I played). I played through 7 and to say the least was not astounded...and Aeris' death was no surprise and got no emotional reaction from me. Haven't beaten 10 (don't own) but I've heard good things. What makes these FF stand above the rest? Is it based on plot? Graphics? First time FF experiences? What?

 

[Zera]

A lot of people thinks FF7 is the greatest probably beacause its the first game many played(due to the playstation reaching the masses). Count me on not getting the game either. I played it 2 years ago and I was bored( i was stuck at my cousins who had the game).

 

[WafflesToo]

If you've ever played FFVI then there really isn't any reason to play any of the others (although I must admit that I'm a little amused that the world was ultimately saved by "Chocobo Love" in FFVII).

I don't really count FF:T as a FF game since it's story was based in the BATTLE OGRE / TACTICS OGRE setting (and was deved by the same people). Really neat game, though I'm stuck at the end of chapter 2 ATM (suspect that I need to go out and level up my troops some in order to get by it).

 

[LordOmnit]

I have to say that while I liked FF7's story, it was by no means amazing. I haven't ever played FF10, so I can't say anything about it. After hearing about how Aeris dies and getting up to that point I would probably be able to honestly say that I wasn't particularly surprised after she ditched you that she was going to die (not like they didn't hint at it enough). I liked 9 also, but I can't say that parts of the story were lost to me, whereas FF7's was rather too easy to follow, even through the "twists" that appeared throughout the game, but I liked 9 more overall (although the FF7 music was better in my opinion, but that isn't what we're after here, is it?).
I believe that another thing that made FF7 "stand above" the others was hype and localization (note that FF7 didn't help FFT's sales). Personally I liked FF, FF5, FF6, and FFT more story-wise and even, for the most part, system-wise. FF7's system was slightly inovative with the materia and all, but it was basically a ported version of the Esper system in FF6.
And I am a fan of sprites, completely. You can take your "super good" 3D and shove it up your- refrigerator. Something like graphics isn't important to me as long as it isn't BAD. FF7's cuboid (or whatever) characters kind of put me off, whereas games like Disgaea use sprites and make good use of it rather than bad use of 3D. Although I can't really say that I blame it for being bad, considering how 'new' it was to have a game in 3D, but that doesn't make it better for that. As long as the 'graphics' convey the images well, I am content (although I have to say that Ookami's graphics do look intruiging, but I have neither money nor frequent access to a PS2 or any to a Wii).
First FF experience... you could say that it was FF6, but my brother and his friend never let me play it, so I can't say that that would be accurate. FF7 was probably my first major experience, since I got to play FF on my old NES, but I wasn't smart enough back then to not get killed by those blasted 9 Forest Imp battles. I liked it, I won't lie, but after playing FF5 and FF6 and FFT, I would put it at the back of the list, and then bump it up one after playing FF8, since that SUCKED SO BAD I couldn't even try to summurize the plot if I was being held at gunpoint for it.
I guess that's all I've got.

 

[Katana314]

I particularly liked the art style of FF7. Swords and magic alone were getting a bit old for me, so just randomly throwing swords into a gun-filled atmosphere...actually seemed kinda cool to me. Probably simply because it was unique...and I was young.

 

[ccesarano]

The big thing someone touched on was "first FF they played". A trend I noticed among newer JRPG gamers is that Final Fantasy usually brings them into the genre, and the first one they play is often their favorite. Lately, this is anywhere from FF7 to FFX.

Now, me, I've been playing since the original Final Fantasy on the NES, and those like me just simply don't play Final Fantasy anymore. I think FF8 is what killed it for me. FF9 and FF10 had fun enough gameplay, but the stories were incredibly lackluster. FF8 was just pathetic on all accounts. The only FF I've ever played I couldn't finish (well, I got rid of FF3 on the DS before I finished, but honestly, it bored me. It didn't pain me like FF8 did, either).

Now, at the same time, my distortion of the FF quality has also been messed around with. Before 7, all I had was FF1, 4 and 6. If I had also played 2, 3 and 5, I would've seen that the majority of titles released were, in the end, plain old good but nothing fantastic. As it was, America got the best of the series. FF1 is still fun to this day, containing a ton of elements forgotten. Let's not forget challenge. FF4 was the first video game any console gamer played with a seriously good story. Even Cecil, who used to be the angstiest hero of them all, dealt with his issues in a relatively mature manner without the bullshit. Final Fantasy 6, well, that story is just flat out amazing. The gameplay was fun for the time, though at this point a bit boring. Nonetheless, Magicite was probably the best "everyone can use magic" system they've implemented, and even then every character class still had a purpose.

With that in mind, FF7 was also a big step. Firstly, it was the first title to not be censored. It's also the adult of the games, oddly enough. In any case, it also introduced a lot of new ideas to Final Fantasy, while simultaneously providing a "complex" story. Now that I'm older, I can look back and say "y'know, that story wasn't so amazing after all", but at the time it really was awesome. Also, EVERYONE knows Aeris dies now, but back then it was still a big shocker. Even as messed up as Cloud was, he at least didn't whine like Squall did, either. FF7 also threw in a shit ton of "mini games" like snowboarding, bike riding and other such things that they pulled out of the development of Mario RPG. This variety throughout the game actually added some nice fun.

Now, ultimately, FF7 was certainly not as great storywise as FF6's, though I have to say I prefer the gameplay of 7 more. So, I can fully understand people clamoring for either FF6 or FF7. However, any title after that I just blame on ignorance. Anyone that favors a Final Fantasy after either of those just hasn't gotten to truly experience the evolution of the JRPG genre, knowing what is trite and what genuinely works, or is simply illiterate in that they haven't experienced much in the way of truly good stories.

To those people, I say either read Dune or Memory, Sorrow and Thorn. Each of these book series has teenagers start out as the main "heroes", but they make every other teenage hero that is so popular in RPG's today look like the retarted, recycled ideas they've always been. Especially Paul Atreides. He's just bad ass.

 

[Virgil]

Ignoring Final Fantasy Tactics, which would otherwise claim the top position and is practically in a league of its own, my top choice would be Final Fantasy IV. It really brought individualized characters into RPGs for me, and tied it up with a story that wasn't nearly as cliched as its predecessors. The surprise attack on the summoners, the redemption of the Dark Knight, the jealous cycle of betrayal by the best friend, the sacrifice of Palom and Porom - there are just a ton of highlights that make the game great even today.

Final Fantasy VI is the other peak of the series. It took what Final Fantasy IV started, in terms of characterization and story, to an entirely new level. On the other hand, the magicite system also started to suck the differentiation away from the different characters in the later sections of the game. This 'sameness,' as well as the fragmented second half (where the overarching story is mostly gone, and you go around collecting party members instead) knocks it from the top position.

FFVII is the popular choice, but in the end I just felt the ending to be lackluster. The move to 3D also seemed to make the game worlds much more limited, something that they've only really started correcting in the most recent titles.

The lack of character individuality is one of the things I like the least about the more recent FF games. I won't be surprised when one decides that characters are irrelevant and you can just swap their skins instead.

 

[hooloovoonate]

I'm a FFVII man, no doubt because it was the first one I played. While it does get confused sometimes about whether to be comical or serious, there's just something about it that I love.
That aside, FFIX is easily my second favorite. The gameplay and story might have taken a step back but it's just a beautiful game and I love every single one of the characters... except for Amarant, the dumbass.

 

[Joe]

Voted Xenogears. It was like Final Fantasy, but worth playing. Easily Square's second-best game, behind the first Super Mario RPG.

 

[LordOmnit]

Oh, we're allowed to do that? In that case, Legend of Mana! The story never centered around the main character, but contained many separate in-depth stories depending upon the mission that required the main character's presence. It didn't have one, huge, epic, overarching storyline, but it excellently delivered many individual ones, in which many games fail to deliver THE ONE as well as it delivered the mash-up.

 

[ccesarano]

Actually, Legend of Mana DOES have a single, over-arching storyline. It's just a hidden secret!

 

[LordOmnit]

Well, technically, but that only comes into it in the "explosive finale."
Although I can't think of a game that has a more impossibly hard setting option (see No Future mode).

 

[cstew84]

If you guys are lumping ALL of Squenix's properties in, then I will put on the Chrono Trigger hat and wear it proudly. Simply one of the greatest RPGs made! It had a compelling storyline with multiple complex characters. Each one had their own reasons for helping our man Crono. Ultimatly, it was the "world is ending" scenerio which ended up being the main reason but it was such a wonderfully told story that I can still go back today and play it.

Now as far as FF7 is concerned, it was probably the first time that Square took a main character that was so complex and conflicted and made you want to find out why he did what he did and what made him do the things he does throughout the game. They made you get attached to the characters instead of dismiss them. I won't say that its the end-all of Final Fantasy, cause that title goes to FF6. THE most main characters in a FF game (someone tell me who the MAIN character is, I dare you). The story was great, the music was great, and the pacing never felt rushed. I will now go on to defend FF8 because it has one of my favorite FF storylines. It was a big jump for the big Square to go to because they based the story off the interaction between the characters vice the eventual story about witches and whatever else.

Oops... going on too long. Another great Square game, Secret of Mana. Bla-doow! Awesome game!

 

[GeeDave]

I still have fond memories of the chocobo races in FF7, me and my friends would just sit there and we'd place fake bets on which one would win, we were only young and this was easily amusing. It wasn't till a year or so later that I actually picked up the game to play it on a serious level. I loved it... and I pick it up again at-least once a year nowadays. I've not completed it in a long time though... last time I powered through it I was just aiming to get the master-materias, and ripped the 'weapons' to pieces. When I get to the point when there's nothing left to do but beat Sephiroth... I usually stop.

FF8, I thought... was amazing. I loved the story, I loved the characters, I loved the setting... what I didn't love, however... was the beginning to the last disc. Where all you can pretty much do is go off and fight the end boss (and various other boss characters). If you went back to the "world" everything was blocked off... there was very little to do, it felt so... lonely. And I didn't like that. The ending sequence though... I bloody loved that.

FF9. For me, it was "okay"... nice visuals... no, amazing visuals. But it all felt a bit weak, I've still never completed it to this day, I just grow tired of it too easily.

I didn't pick up older FF's till after I was 'done' with FF9, I found the constant similarities between ancient FF's and newer ones to be quite amazing. I'm glad they keep to their roots, even when changing drastically.

FF10... played it for a bit, wasn't really feeling it. But I blame this on bad timing, i'm all grown up now and i've got things to do. As much as I love long games, I just haven't got the time to be playing them everyday, and FF10 was horrible when you came back to it after a few days off.

So, anyway... my favourite Final Fantasy, I want it to be 8, just so I can say "I'm Different!"... but it gets too poor toward the end. It's going to have to be 7, for me.

 

[Dark Wingstalker]

FF7 was just the game we all grew up with.

i didnt bat an eyelid for twelve, so im past the phase, but 7 and 8?? man, i was an addict, i was in love with these characters.

Shit, when squall got Kerstabbed in 8, i was almost in tears, i was.. i dunno, 11-12 at the time?? i dunno when the game came out, but i got it like, the week after.

Why do people like FF7?? it had a nice story, a bit of character development, and it was simple enough that a young teenager could get it easily.

Same with ten i suppose.


And you know, i like being able to get a smile when i mention bigg's and Wedge.
good times.

 

[KurtNiisan]

FFVII: Best FF due to the sheer awesomeness of the story and character depth
Chrono Trigger: Story and combat system (I love the Partner Attacks)
Xenosaga series: Great story and voice acting (many can be recognised from Anime dubs)

 

[dnv2]

FF7 was the first FF I played and I thought it was amazing back then at the age of 11 and I still think it's easily one of my favourite RPG's to this day.

FF8 I really enjoyed as well. The whole SeeD storyline is excellent and I think the character development is a lot better than in FF7 where you seem to have a few characters who seem a bit useless to the main storyline.

FF9 I only really ever played once and only got about three quarters of the way into it, I'd like to go back and play it again but seeing as though there is'nt a PC version (that I know of?) and I dont have a PS1 copy anymore I guess I'm stuck.

FF10 again I only played it the once and only got about half way through, I'd like to play it again but I'm not sure if there's a pc version out.

FF online was really bad for me, I thought most of the enviroments were really bland and it captured nothing from the series of games that got me hooked in the first place.

 

[LordLocke]

I started with I and loved it, played II (IV) and liked it, and played III (VI) and went back to loving it.

The PSX era was where the series stumbled a bit, in my mind. Or stumbled a lot. VII and VIII to this date remain my least favorite installments in the series that I've at least completed. The uninteresting, unlikable casts; the poorly-translated, utterly baffling plots; not to mention the flash over substance takes on the ATB combat engine. IX was better, but it was... slow. The combat was slow. The story advanced at a crawl. It seemed like doing anything in the game required a massive sink of time. It's probably my favorite of the series plot-wise, but I'm not sure I could take a replay of it unless I got some time off or something and nothing better to do.

Then X, X-2, and XII all won me back over- they're probably my favorite installments after VI, in roughly that order. I did play through V when it hit the GBA and loved it, and I... guess III was ok- I finished it, but I can't say I like it as much as most of the others. Never finished II, never will finish II.