Final Fantasy gone dull?

Kegget · Member Joined: 14 Mar 2007 Posts: 79

I think the Final Fantasy Series have gone downhill every since Final Fantasy X.
What do you think?

firehead · Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 2:18 pm Post subject:

Theres to many.

bowiegranap · Very bored Joined: 01 Nov 2006 Posts: 218

It always gone downhill. Everything after FF6 is crap. Heck, everything done after 1 is crap. Back in my day, we had to walk 10 miles everyday to get to school. In the snow. Backwards. And by golly, we liked it!

Seriously, though, jaded and cynical game reviewers from a few magazines have given 12 a perfect 10, or pretty near it. And I detest Yuna and Tidus. Its all a matter of opinion.

Fayore · Moderator Joined: 12 Mar 2004 Posts: 6195

I'm thinking most "professional" reviewers in gaming magazines'll give anything in the FF series a really high score just because of the FF name it carries.

I personally thought it stopped being good when it entered the PS2 generation.

And every time I hear about the "Final Fantasy VII Series", I want to go crush something, so. Yes. All a matter of opinion/preference. Sortof. There's a lot of aspects where I'm sure most people will agree on - for example, they've mainly been focusing on the graphical aspect (as well as gameplay value), so there's less emphasis on the storyline, and as a result, the storylines are clearly less developed than before.

Which is what I play games for, so that's why I prefer the older FF games.

Stratadrake · Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 6:58 pm Post subject:

Brand-name power doesn't stick around forever. Without some kind of improvement or innovation with each new installment, not even Final Fantasy can remain on top.

FFXII, for example, was an awesome improvement to the typical battle formula.
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Fayore · Moderator Joined: 12 Mar 2004 Posts: 6195

I assume you mean their modelling it after FFXI's battle system?

lol mmos.

Stratadrake · Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 7:53 pm Post subject:

Never played FFXIO. But let's not forget about the Gambits, either.
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Jtlats · Member Joined: 24 Apr 2007 Posts: 97

The FF series brings something new every time. I loved the sphere sport in FFX. I started a profile just so I could play that. Seven was still awsome with the Las Vegas area and chocobo racing.

8 had a card game that I liked and the GF system was cool.

I hated 9. I will destroy every disc of FF9 I see.

already talked about ten.

X-2 was ok, the dress sphere system was a new way to play.

XII and VII Dirge of Cerberus came out to close together. I played FFXII first and loved it. Loved the new system for fighting monsters.

191026 · in Deep Thought Joined: 20 May 2007 Posts: 42

X-2 was a total flop. I dint know....i just didnt like it. Fair enough Tidus came abck but that was the only highlite of the game,
The music was pants. It was too.....cheerleadery in my eyes
had no interest in XI.
Playing XII thenow........quite a flat story line but the graphicas totally amke up for it.
But i do agree that it has went downhill. There is not really any really strong story lines any more. no real character development........no romance...all that jazz!!
I agree

Astri · Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 10:33 am Post subject:

My favorite part of RPGs (and just about anything else) are the characters. In my opinion, the best characters FF ever had were the ones of FF6, closely seconded by FF Tactics. Let's be honest--in 6, you had a female main character who is arguably the most powerful character any RPG that tops character at 9999 has ever seen, a tragic thief who was actually NOT emo about it, a perverted king with a chainsaw, and the king's brother, a magic-user who fought with his fists and was pretty much the first gay character to hit game consoles. And that's not counting the dancing Moogle, the angry ten-year-old girl who sicced her portraits on people, and the wild boy who more or less turned into monsters.

After FF6 came FF7 and then FFT. Okay, FF7 had some pretty good characters. However, it was severely hampered by the fact that it didn't DO much with them. The storyline basically revolved around Cloud and Aeris until Aeris died, at which point it was about Cloud and Tifa. And Tifa was NOT a good female character. Breast size aside, she cried for Cloud every single time she needed help. She can punch holes in freakin' rock, yet she needs Cloud to protect her??? What's that about???

Putting Tifa aside, FFT had strong, realistic characters who, although they don't surpass FF6's cast in my personal opinion, had a much stronger story to work with. In fact, I would venture to say that FFT's story surpasses that of just about any other RPG I have ever played. I have beaten it time and time again, and yet I still always seem to forget another plot wrinkle and find myself surprised again and again and again. That is a truly fantastic storyline indeed.

Now, from there...the characters rolled over and died. Okay, yes, there were a few gems. Quistis from 8 was brilliant, and Quina from 9 was a work of art; Vivi, also from 9, was adorably sympathetic, and Lulu from 10 could kill monsters with her outfit alone, to say nothing of her sharp tongue. However, the vast majority of the characters from 8 on just suck.

Particularly horrendous examples?

.Squall. He spends half the game thinking about how stupid everyone else is, but doesn't have the guts to say it to their faces. Then, halfway through, he goes complete wimp on us and starts whining nonstop.

.Rinoa. Half the time I want to applaud her for telling Squall he's an idiot. The other half, I want to shoot her for being a nag.

.Edea. She was really quite a good villain. Then (spoiler!) she turned good again, and her personality just kind of disappeared. All the coolness she had had as a villain was completely gone, and there was absolutely nothing to replace it. She was just a boringly lukewarm, somewhat nice person.

.GARNET FROM 9. Oh my GOD, the girl was USELESS. She was stupid, foolhardy, cowardly, oblivious, weak, and eclipsed in every single way by Eiko, who could fight better, cast all of her important healing spells, and actually learn Holy. Worst of all, she spends an entire disk unable to speak, meaning her already pitiful spellcasting abilities got even WORSE. The reason I can't play 9 anymore is ENTIRELY because of Garnet.

.Vaan. He bugs me. Maybe it's his annoying voice. Maybe it's the horrible job they did on animating his in-game sprite. Maybe it's his colorless personality. I can't tell.

Argh. So many horrible characters. From the days of Cecil and Rydia and Bartz and Faris and Terra and Celes we have gone to THIS.

So, to sum up--a resounding YES. The FFs definitely HAVE been going downhill.
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Fayore · Moderator Joined: 12 Mar 2004 Posts: 6195

[quote="Astri"]I have beaten it time and time again, and yet I still always seem to forget another plot wrinkle and find myself surprised again and again and again.[/quote]

Yes! The story is so complex and has so many intricacies that you can miss [i]so[/i] easily! There's so many ambiguities and symbolism and theme and omg I could go on forever. *_*; I love replaying it because I always learn something I hadn't noticed before. And while the characters aren't as... extravagant or "out of the mold" as some of the other games' characters are, I enjoy them purely because Yes, This Is The Way People Would Act In Real Life, which is why I find them so fascinating and easy to empathize with. [i]Especially[/i] Delita.

You might like the FFT PSP remake, I'm not sure. They've added in a few extra scenes to clarify a few points (like how Wiegraf ended up with the Lucavi) - I haven't finished the game yet, so I can't really say whether all the new scenes are good or not.

The new character, Rousseau... It kinda pisses me off how SE's throwing in new stuff left and right - Rousseau's blatant advertising for FFT:A2. Blah

; ~~And the fact that he gets Ramza's Ubersquire skills pisses me off, too.~~ I haven't seen Balthier yet, but I bet that was just to appease the fans, too.

Other than that, I'm just hoping that they don't change the story in any way (although I already do know they changed some stuff around with Algus...). It seems the same so far... although I hope they clear up the ending a little, as well. Not change it, per se, but just... I dunno. XD; So many questions about it! XD

OH THE NEW CINEMATICS ARE REALLY REALLY NICE.

Astri · Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2007 9:41 am Post subject:

You'll have to let me know how FFT2 is, Fayore...I don't have a PSP, but I still wanna know...

I have to say, though, that throwing Balthier into it just seemed stupid to me. Of all the characters in all the FFs that they could cross back into it, they choose _Balthier_??? What is THAT about???

I have to say, though, I don't really like any of the characters from FF12. They're all extremely colorless and entirely stock characters. Not a single one of them actually stands out to me in any way. They even all have the same color scheme! They are all entirely shades of yellow, brown, and grey, except for Ashe, who looks like a cross between her love interest, Vaan, and her predecessor, FFX-2 Yuna. In a year, I won't even remember who FF12's characters are.
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HerculesRockefeller · Joined: 30 Sep 2006 Posts: 3143

FFVIII was the high point of the series for me.

Yukaai · Rookie Joined: 30 Apr 2006 Posts: 27

yeah... you gotta admit, after 3, ff sucked...

i mean, seriously,
HOW MANY Is AND Xs AND Vs CAN THEY PUT INTO A TITLE TILL IT JUST GETS OLD!

ID · Rookie Joined: 04 Jul 2007 Posts: 31

My Ratings for the main series:
1- 8/10
2- 5/10
3- 2/10
4- 9/10
5- 9/10
6- 9/10
7- 10/10
8- 8/10
9- 9/10
10- 1/10
X-2-1/10
11- 0/10
12- 7/10

Numbers are based of the new FF numbering system.
Seven was my favorite overall, you didn't have that guy trying to destroy the world. Hell, you know if they destroyed the world they'd be going too. Sephiroth was just smart enough not to do that *stops before spoilers go too far and explains all of Sephiroth's backstory*
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Astri · Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 12:16 am Post subject:

Sephiroth didn't want to destroy the world per se, but he still wanted to kill the planet and everything on it by destroying another planet with the ultimate black magic spell and crashing the remains of that planet into the world of FF7. That's close enough to world destruction to me.

Only FF villain who gets any props from me is Kefka from FF6. Kefka is the only FF villain I know of (in fact, one of the only villains from ANY game I know of) who sets out to destroy the world...and actually does it.
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Fayore · Moderator Joined: 12 Mar 2004 Posts: 6195

That's pretty much what I was thinking. It was kinda like, "lol, what? but he summoned meteor in an attempt to explode shit. DX" =P The whole point is to destroy the world. He's just doing it in a roundabout manner. He was just nuts. In the end, I don't think he would have cared whether he died or not, as long as it was for his Mother.

Speaking of villains, I rather like like Kefka, too. But mostly because he was so flamboyantly... gay. XD;;; Every other FF character was just designed to be pretty or cool looking. Except for the people in FFT, who were just designed to be like normal people ~~aside from the mages~~ (in 18th century Europe or something, lol).

...It kinda weirds me out how drastically curved your scores are for each of the games. FF11 gets a 0? What? And FFX/-2 both get 1? The story's not ingenious or anything, but I hardly believe they deserve such low scores. And yeah, FF5 was cool, but again: it didn't really have the elements going for it that makes it deserve a 9, imo.

Wanna explain your scores rather than just saying that? >_>; Because as they are, it just looks like your ratings for the games are based off views of the general public, since I have noticed trends that swing that way.

KeheiZero · Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 9:41 am Post subject:

FFX-2 deserves high scores just for Vegnagun.
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ID · Rookie Joined: 04 Jul 2007 Posts: 31

Final Fantasy 1- 8/10
Explanation: Square's first Final Fantasy release hit big, the monsters in the game were fantastic, but the magic system put me off a bit. Especially in the town with the Level 3 and 4 spells. Maybe it was just me but i tried to train up and get money that was i could get the spells.

Final Fantasy 2- 5/10
Explanation: The leveled magic system worked great until the magic got higher into levels. I mean my cure spell healed even Guy who had 7000 HP fully. But it took out a chunk of my MP doing so. Plus if you missed out on the Blood Sword the Final boss would be harder to take and sometimes unbeatable. The Stats system got a thumbs up from me, going away from levels this time.

Final Fantasy 3- 2/10
Explanation: The battle system was nice, graphics good, one thing that put me off. Your character is afraid of an outline of a gingerbread-man.

Final Fantasy 4- 9/10
Explanation: The older version (FF2) was pretty good aside from in the newer version all of your dead party members get revived. Overall, the whole game was great.

Final Fantasy 5- 9/10
Explanation: Wide variety of abilities to choose from. The Mime class also comes in handy. Hey What if you really don't need the Attack command?

Final Fantasy 6- 9/10
Explanation: A challenging game if you didn't train or opened some wrong chests. Kefka sort of weirded me out, but with the additions of Locke denying to be a thief, Terra wanting to feel real love, and Shadow running away from you time-to-time, it worked out as one of the best of the two-dimensional Final Fantasy games.

Final Fantasy 7- 10/10
Explanation: A highly customizable magic and skill system with materia stones. Have one healer, one offensive spellcaster, and one guy who sits there in the sidelines with high hp, defense, and strength.

Final Fantasy 8- 8/10
Explanation: Again, customization. And the fact that you can have Squall dealing 9999 damge and having his next-to-ultimate sword in Disc one. The thing that put me off is that you can mess-up during the game and if you saved at a certain spot, would have to restart the WHOLE game.

Final Fantasy 9- 9/10
Explanation: Seeing that it's possible in this Final Fantasy, maybe very complicated, but my friend beat Ozma at a low level. I mean all he really needed was Theivery and Limit Glove. Seeing how possible it is to beat the hardest boss with ease...even though he seems so hard gives it a thumbs up. Point that I didn't like was you only get to use Beatrix a few times and they could have had a better Blue Mage than...Quina...

Final Fantasy X- (My finger slipped here, i meant to have it higher)- 2/10
Explanation: Yeah sure the sphere grid and everything were okay. But in previous games you had the great people like Barret, Cloud, Squall, Zidane, Vivi and them. Here you got an orange haired wacko, a gay guy with a sword crying for his daddy, and such. I only really liked Kimarhi and Auron to say the least. The final boss was way to easy, at least they could have made it like Ultimecia or Necron.

Final Fantasy X-2- 1/10
Explanation: Excluding Paine, they all dressed like whores. And most convorsations were gay "Key-Mon? MONKEY!". Plus the original 'storyline' if you could say was about her finiding Tidus. Look, Final Fantasy was about saving the world. It at least got better when Vegnagun came into teh picture. Plus the percentage complete threw it out since you can't view the 'Good Ending' without X amount of completion points. I still've yet to find out how to get 100% without a new-game-plus.

Final Fantasy 11- 0/10
Explanation: Now may I yell? YOU DON'T NEED A STORYLINE ON AN MMORPG!

Final Fantasy 12- 7/10
Explanation: Not as great as some of the originals, the prices for spells in this one weren't that bad. Most of the characters were good, Vayne's sort of a gay enemy like Seymour was though, until he becomes the Undying that is. Got to admit that was a good final boss. The battle system was good, and I liked how they made Wait-Active battles look.
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Fayore · Moderator Joined: 12 Mar 2004 Posts: 6195

I kinda know how Fallen feels when she talks to people who don't know the difference between "what I like" and "what it's worth". :x~ lol, biased reviews.

Actually, I rather like storyline in mmos. Without a definitive plot, mmos get really boring really fast for me. It's only so much fun you can get by doing the same mundane quests over and over again, getting the best equips, etc. lol.

Oh, by the way: It's impossible to get 100% in X-2 in one run due to diverging plot points. You [i]have[/i] to do a new game plus. :x