I'm finished with Final Fantasy

[Mr. In-between]

I finished FFXII last night, after waiting the better part of 4 years to give the game a shot.

Needless to say, I have never been more disappointed in a game in my entire life. This game is up there with Star OCean: Til the End of Time in terms of pure, unadulterated, soul-crushing failure. I'm sure some smart-ass is going to reply to this with "ALL FINEL FANTESY GAMES R LIKE THAT BUT U DONT KNOW CUZ OF NOSTALGEA, WoW IS SOOOO MUCH BETTAR!" but I've prepared myself for such a statement and have trained myself to ignore such idiocy.

My main gripe with the game? The plot (or lack of one). There was absolutely nothing engaging about the plot of this game whatsoever. No twists, no turns, nothing engaging. The main character was completely disposable and I never even used him once I got Balthier, Basch, and Fran together. The main villain looked like he belonged in a bad Cure tribute band, and who the hell was this Venat? Seriously, what purpose did this serve? What was any of the antagonists' motivations?

Final Fantasy is dead to me. I haven't played X, XI, or XIII, but I can safely say that I will never be purchasing another Final Fantasy title after suffering through 60+ hours of this god-awful piece of shit. I don't know when Square decided that the Final Fantasy series was a way to demonstrate the graphical capabilities of the platform it's released on, but they should know that they've just lost a longtime fan... not that it should matter, because the legion of retarded "goth" teenagers they pander to will pick up the slack left by the absence of original fans.

 

[Rokar333]

You do realize that the target audience of those games was, and has always been, teenagers right?

You just grew up, you're not part of their target audience. They don't need deeply complex stories because the target audience doesn't demand them. My brother was satisfied with the plot for FF XIII, and that's really all they care about.

 

[ShadowKatt]

I haven't given up on final fantasy, but IMO that was the worst one. The plot was shallow, the characters were one dimensional, and the gambit system meant that once set up properly I didn't even have to play the game, just watch it play itself. But, EVERYONE that does a long series has to drop the ball here and there. I haven't played XIII yet, and from what I've seen, people that loved III, VI, and VII hated it, and people that loved VIII, IX, and X loved it, and I fall in with the latter crowd.

 

[Random Argument Man]

So you experienced one game and you didn't liked it. Therefore, you must hate the entire franchise?

 

[Mr. In-between]

You do realize that the target audience of those games was, and has always been, teenagers right?

You just grew up, you're not part of their target audience. They don't need deeply complex stories because the target audience doesn't demand them. My brother was satisfied with the plot for FF XIII, and that's really all they care about.

Yeah, I keep hearing this from people who are into "mature" games that are filled with "mature" things like gore and sex, but I'd have to disagree since plenty of adults enjoyed Final Fantasy 7-9 when they came out.

EDIT

So you experienced one game and you didn't liked it. Therefore, you must hate the entire franchise?

Dude... unlike what I reckon a good 50% of this forum's users, I've been playing Final Fantasy since 7 was a twinkle in Square's eye. I got Final Fantasy for my eighth birthday whereas I've observed that a sizable portion of this forum got into the franchise around X, bought VII, and then fell into lockstep order with what the gaming community wants to hear in terms of "best" entry in the series.

 

[HSIAMetalKing]

[sub]But I liked Star Ocean TTEOT...[/sub]

 

[Deofuta]

However, XII does achieve one milestone of having a boss which can literally not be beaten. Oh it can tempt you, but it will full heal itself right as you get close to the gate.

Its made people leave the game in droves, I kid you not.

 

[Tehlanna TPX]

Target audience my ass. Come off of your high horse, would you?

OP: I wouldn't shit on an entire franchise just because of one game. But I do agree with your evaluation of 12. Very bland and not at all worthy of the series. It had some moments, but not enough of the moments added up to be satisfying for me.

 

[Stormpigeon]

I quite liked VII, loved VIII IX and X.
Then XII came and I thought that while the game was ok, the plot and licence system and stuff was a bit rubbish.
Nothing prepared me for the unmitigated pile of effluent that is XIII however. Worst game I've ever played. If you thought the XII plot was bad, it looks like Shakespeare by comparison. Not to mention bad combat systems. XII didn't make me give up on Final Fantasy, XIII did

 

[snow]

No worries, I haven't played any of the final fantasy games since they went 3D. I believe I tried 10 at one point when some one showed it to me. Out of the half hour that we decided to play games, I believe I interacted with the game twice. After that I decided Final Fantasy wasn't for me anymore.

I could be wrong on what game I played however. It was many moons ago. I'm sorry, but in my eyes, the 3d games just don't hold a candle to the eagle eye view 2d ones.

Wait! There is one game that still holds my interest that is.. Somewhat 3d... Final Fantasy Tactics I recently purchased for the PS3. I love me some strategy!

 

[Zarokima]

You do realize that the target audience of those games was, and has always been, teenagers right?

You just grew up, you're not part of their target audience. They don't need deeply complex stories because the target audience doesn't demand them. My brother was satisfied with the plot for FF XIII, and that's really all they care about.

Final Fantasy 9 is still one of my favorite games ever, as is 6. 12 is just plain horrible.

 

[Ben Legend]

Cannot blame you, all the other main games in the Final Fantasy series I enjoy for one reason or another, but 12... was average for me. I even played Final Fantasy XIII and thought that was average. Better than XII certainly but better than the 'old school' ones...I think not!!

But on a plus side Final Fantasy Versus XIII looks amazing from what I've seen so i'll wait and hope.

Oh and there is also Kingdom Hearts 3 to look forward to. =D

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

[sub]But I liked Star Ocean TTEOT...[/sub]

Same here...

Hell.

I liked Chrono Cross more than Chrono Trigger...

I think I must just be a fan of the underdogs in series.

 

[Pekkipang]

Well can say that i disliked FFXII to, never felt any connection with the characters nor didnt like the story.

But then on the other han i liked VII and XIII, so after playing the latest. Im for one aint
done with FF.

 

[Grey_Focks]

Well good for you, I guess. I've never really liked the series, or the genre, but if your looking for a new JRPG franchise that's similar, but not shit, my JRPG liking friends tell me "Shin Megami Tensei"(sp?) is quite good, though they are all on ps2.

 

[Walkchalk]

Like the others have said, dont write off the others because XII was awful. I hated XII too, and I give you respect for actually managing to finish that giant peice of chocobo shit. However, I did like all of the others in the series, including X-2, but not including VIII. I would say at least give X a shot to redeem the series in your eyes. It's cheap, and tons of fun IMO.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Hell.

I liked Chrono Cross more than Chrono Trigger...

I think I must just be a fan of the underdogs in series.

Apparently. I enjoyed Chrono Trigger much, much more than Chrono Cross.

OT: Don't let one game you didn't like poison the series for you. You never know, you could end up missing the best game of the series yet.