Voice acting killed Final Fantasy

[CmdrGoob]

Ugh, I remember that clip...

Yeah I think that's true. With 7 I had Cloud and Barret and Sephiroth with the voices all in my head, and it sounded pretty good up there. Tidus makes me want to stab my eardrums with a screwdriver.

I didn't get much into 10, but I may join you there after watching that video... Everyone said Tidus was a very whiny, crybaby character. I didn't think they would mix things up that much. It's like Squall if he was outwardly emo rather then the lone wolf type.

Tidus very much was the whiny boy of that game

Auron was the badass

Plus Tidus is also REALLY dumb "Thinking and patience? That's two things I'm bad at!". I find it astonishing, I just can't get my head around the hell were they were thinking when they designed and wrote some of the modern Final Fantasy characters. They deliberately set out to make the main fricking character whiny AND stupid?! Did they seriously think we would like him that way? It's the same with Vanille, did they seriously think she would be likeable and not annoying?

 

[TheSchaef]

The one thing that killed Final Fantasy was not being Chrono Trigger. So basically, that means everything after 4 is dead to me.

 

[Krythe]

FF6 & FF7 were the only good ones. And FF7, for all its merits, was what killed the franchise.

FF7 was the world-shattering one which sold so fucking many, so with typical greedy producer-logic, they've been copy/pasting the exact same fucking game with slightly shinier graphics instead of having any innovations. Every single spin-off of FFVII, all million or so of them has sucked ass, but they sold because some of us remembered the original that was actually decent.

Let's face it, FF13 was FF7. Just with some hilariously awful fake aussie accents added to the mix.

Spoiler: Just in case none of you have seen this already...

FFVIII was the most emo crap I have ever seen with a magic system designed by Hitler. Aparantly Nomura doesn't understand the difference between "drama" and "emo-angst". (For other examples: See Kingdom Hearts 2)

I am also calling a gamer's fatwa for the entire cast involved in the development of FFXII.

Let's face it, maybe if they actually had some fucking innovation and got rid of the unecessary angst, the series might become decent again. But game developers will NEVER take a chance on "Great" when "Mediocre" nets them profit without the risk.

 

[Krythe]

Actually, I can't believe I forgot this, but the thing that annoys me the most about FF13 was the charater development.

Ordinarily, the characters start out as inept, reluctant heroes, which is why the "refusal of the call" is a story archetype. The conflict strengthens them and they gain the power to bear their internal burdens.

FF13 does the development the IN COMPLETELY THE REVERSE FUCKING ORDER. The characters (most notably Lightning) start out as hardened, confident, and capable of coping, and then EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM proceeds to degenerate into simpering whiny bitches.

There are some things that make not for good storytelling, notably throwing in unnecessary angst for the hell of it. It's a sad throwback to high school, analogous to my observations of idiots pretending to like poetry so they could rationalize having the personality of a brick.

 

[Sh0ckFyre]

I warmly welcomed voice acting in Final Fantasy 10. I was personally in awe of how good the voice acting was... But according to the negativity, I was maybe half-way through the game so everyone probably got a dick jammed in their vocal cords by Sin.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

hmm...i guess im alone here, i dont play games and make or break depending on their voices? just like how in real life i dont judge people or say "wowzerw;ers YOU HAVE A HORRIBLE VOICE", maybe i just dont have high expectations but in a game the last thing i worry about is the voice, and ff is really not that bad for voice actors, i have heard worse before and its not because they were too emotional or anything, which thats just how jrpg's are, if you dont realize that by now i dont know why you keep coming back to jrpg's

 

[StBishop]

Y'know, I liked X-XIII.

I think it has more to do with when you were introduced to the series. Many people who liked VI the best thought the series went downhill from VII on, and now people who liked VII-IX are thinking the same thing about X.

So, I guess the "generations" of FF can be split up thus: I-VI, VII-IX, and X- whenever.

Yeah, I'm just kind of making assumptions here, but I don't think it's too far off.

I have to say I agree with you. I have enjoyed all of the series that I've played (VII onward not including handheld spin offs or that online joke) and I was introduced to IX by a friend who had been playing them since VI on SNES and he didn't really like anything after X-2 (Yeah he liked X-2). We both pretty much fit into your brackets, obviously there will always be an exception to every rule but I think you may be onto something.


However I've played very little of XIII and am yet to form an opinion of it, damn study keeps side tracking me from playing games, so I can't say whether I've liked it yet.

 

[Slick Samurai]

In a way, I suppose the TC is right, but voice acting would make most FF games bad. Mostly, this is because the characters qualify as extremely annoying. Even the most beloved characters, such as Cloud, Squall, and Aeris would be (in my opinion) grating on the ears if voiced. Having these character's dialogue in text only, the player is allowed to give the character the voice that best fits them. For me, in the case of Cloud, it's Egoraptor's Solid Snake voice after reading Watchmen 10 times in a row.

So, in a way, all the FF games can be considered bad with voice acting. But it's the character design, not the voices, that make them annoying.

 

[Enfid]

To be fair I remembered in that video (I haven't watched it again. At work.) that the other people are looking at them like they ARE crazy (or retarded, whichever applies), so I think it's more of a case of deliberate narm.

 

[Caligulove]

I always thought it was the fact that Final Fantasy can't grow out of the 90's way of doing JRPGs.

They need to realize that it doesnt mix with current gen works and overall better ideas

 

[Denamic]

How do we know that the original Japanese VAs are any better? Since (a lot of us) can't understand Japanese, they could be terrible for all we know.

They are.
The Japanese drama in the game suits the Japanese language and culture far better than it does English, which is also why the script seems incredibly weird sometimes in English.
It just doesn't translate well.

 

[xXAsherahXx]

It's really annoying how people on the escapist completely denounce FFs after IX. I liked X XII and XIII. I also like VII, I, and III. What was Square supposed to do, move to hand-helds for the years that there was text? The Japanese versions are horrible and that's a given since all the voices sound the same, but I like the American versions. Admittedly there is a lot of hand-face collisions during the story, but majority of the stories are actually good and the voices are a good chunk of it.

Plus it is kind of boring to sit quiet and watch text flow all day while you get a couple arm maneuvers.

 

[KarumaK]

SNIP*
It's easy:
Commando > Knight - Fighter
Ravager > Black Mage - Sword Mage
Synergist > Party Buffs
Sentinel > Pseudo Paladin
Medic > White Mage
Saboteur > Enemy Debuffs

So your problem is they changed the names? Weak...

First off that's wrong.

Second off, where's the rest of my job system? And where the fuck is my thief?

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I know a lot of people feel the same way I do about the quality of recent FF releases. 7-9 are 3 of my favorite games ever, with awesome charactors, story and everything else, with enough variation between them to make each one uniquely special.

Then 10 came, which was ok, although everything seemed slighty worse, the charactors wern't as good, story was worse, and the plot and gameplay were annoyingly linear.

12 had the most boring one dimentional charactors ever, with an equily dull story to boot. They added some nice extra bits, and it wasn't as linear as 10, but I just didn't care. Without a compelling story or charactors it felt so empty.

And now 13, which I think Yahtzee nailed in his review. Exept Sazh, all the charactors were annoyingly smug and whiney, and everything just so damn linear.

Anyway, I'm gonna go ahead and blame voice actors above all, for filling everything with annoying phrases like "Heros don't back down!", and generally making everyone annoyingly optomistic and stereotypical. At least I could charactorise them myself without, but now they just take on the ultra bland persona projected by the voice actors, reciting optimistic phrases, and exactly filling the stereotypes I'm trying to imagine they arn't.

You realize the voice actors don't write their own lines, right? They are forced to work with whatever script they are given.

 

[Gauntes]

well, considering the fact that FFX was the only final fantasy series that I liked, I am unable to agree

 

[rees263]

I always thought it was the fact that Final Fantasy can't grow out of the 90's way of doing JRPGs.

They need to realize that it doesnt mix with current gen works and overall better ideas

Stylistically perhaps,but everytime they try something new (like in every game) you get people whining about how it's not as good as it used to be and how FFVI is the best etc etc.

This isn't really any different to any other franchise, only FF has been going longer than most and has picked up a massive fan base over the years who seem particularly vocal. Every FF board on gamefaqs (I know it's a bad example, it's hardly known for it's refined user base) is plagued by trolls saying that FFY is better than FFZ, it's ridiculous.

I've enjoyed all the FFs since 7 ('cept 11), but I won't start defending them here, it's a waste of time. I don't mind if people didn't enjoy a certain installment in the series, sucks to be them as far as I'm concerned. I just wish people would stop whining. And after that maybe I'll breed some flying pigs...

 

[Meilow]

I agree that Yahtzee nailed the review, but I don't think that the voice acting is what killed the game. It was the linear ass game play, confusing ass story, and combat system that killed the game. Granted the combat system is fun the first couple go-rounds, but it loses its edge 15+ hours in. FF13 was the most upsetting game of the year.

 

[Mr.Black]

I disagree, completely. I will start by stating that Final Fantasy IX and Tactics still remain as my favorites in the series. On the other hand I believe that voice acting has worked wonders for the series. You see, one of the things I had problems with was connecting to characters who only talked in voice boxes. As petty as that might be, the addition of voices allowed them to emote, it gave them more personality than the text could (and it forced translation to be a little more rigorous). I would actually argue that Final Fantasy XIII has some of the best characterization in the series and I don't say that lightly. I've played pretty much every numeral game in the series and I still think that this one took the cake on characters. Part of that is that (I would argue) most of the voice actors are actually quite good. The characters being able to convey emotion on a vocal level is an important thing, especially in a game as character-driven as Final Fantasy. XIII actually may yet take the place of my favorite in the series and while I can agree that Final Fantasy X had some bad voice actors, I think that the series is recovering and improving from the major changes that have happened over the last 10 years or so.

Well said. Everyone is knee deep in nostalgia and bandwagons the hate. Final Fantasy keeps getting better imo