Making a Final Fantasy thread and no one can stop me. (Finalphile Support Group)

[tiesto]

2.5 games is still better than the one game in the Phantasy Star series that is good

That is patently absurd on it's face, and you know it. PS, PS II, and PS IV are all good games. PS and PS II are dated, but still awesome and better than the FF entries that came out for comparable times.

Not my problem I have better taste in jrpgs than y'all.

Only psiv is worth playing in 2014

I'd take 1 and 2 over every single FF game.

[Himu]

Haven't played PSO, played I - IV through collections.  Played II - IV on ps2 collection and IV was the only one worth playing still. Though II still had some good things about it.

Alys

[Human Snorenado]

2.5 games is still better than the one game in the Phantasy Star series that is good

That is patently absurd on it's face, and you know it. PS, PS II, and PS IV are all good games. PS and PS II are dated, but still awesome and better than the FF entries that came out for comparable times.

Not my problem I have better taste in jrpgs than y'all.

Only psiv is worth playing in 2014

I'd take 1 and 2 over every single FF game.

[Himu]

2.5 games is still better than the one game in the Phantasy Star series that is good

That is patently absurd on it's face, and you know it. PS, PS II, and PS IV are all good games. PS and PS II are dated, but still awesome and better than the FF entries that came out for comparable times.

Not my problem I have better taste in jrpgs than y'all.

Only psiv is worth playing in 2014

I'd take 1 and 2 over every single FF game.

Ew.

[Positive Touch]

hey can you guys have this conversation out back by the dumpster or something? we're trying to have a good time here and youre shitting it up

[Himu]

Pos-san

[Human Snorenado]

*upper decks toilet on his way out*

[Yulwei]

PSO > PSI-IV

[Human Snorenado]

PSO > PSI-IV

Eat literal shit and die screaming in a fire

[Yulwei]

choke on it 

[magus]

for me my final fantasy ranking would go

Final Fantasy 7 : really i don't think i would give a fuck about rpg if this game didn't exist in the first place, wonderfull soundtrack, amazing artwork, incredible cast, i could go on and on and on why i fucking love this game so much,i also like how the game pull sephiroth off, you never get to interact with him directly until very far into the game so all you get at first is cloud story and the fact that he impale a giant snake and it makes him look like such a badass and yet give him an air of mystery

Final Fantasy 10: 9 and 10 are pretty close for me but i'd rather put 10 above, it has amazing boss fight, a more cohesive cast and i really like how's the plot is narrated in first person, of all the love stories going on final fantasy, 10 is the less cringeworthy one

Final Fantasy 9 : i like the system where you learn abilities from items, the cast is pretty goofy which give it charm but at the same time some of them feel pretty stupid, even without going as far as quina you have character like eiko or amarant which to this day i still have no idea what he's supposed to be... an alien with a bad perm? a rooster with an extreme comb? it's also a little too easy to assemble a party with your best attacker and ignoring the rest of the cast... the villain is also super boring and generic (well to be honest i like brahne super goofy disney villain look but she doesn't do much does she?)

but it's ok! game had chocobo hot & cold and you could play that shit for days and days and days

Final Fantasy 6: 6 is pretty much the proto-FF7 all the good thing i says about FF7 mostly applies to FF6, unfortunately the second half of the game in the world of ruin is a complete chore, it's too easy to destroy the game once you have character that can attack 8 times in a single turn and it really has an awfull encounter rate

Final Fantasy 8: 8 is a mess! every rpg rule they could fuck with,they did... money? you gain it by answering quizzes! xp? doesn't matter anymore! spells? they are an item! it's like the thing was designed by kawazu while being drunk,the art and soundtrack is still top notch being a psx FF but the cast is so boring and of all of them it's easily the weakest... it does have it's cool moment though,like when the two seed universities clashes or the bit where you ambush edea

Final Fantasy 13: everybody hate this game and i hate discussing about it because people act like twat (well more twattish than the usual "my final fantasy is better than your final fantasy" discussion i guess) when it comes to talking about it,for me it was a return to the plot-based form that made me love FF10,the linearity doesn't bother me in the slighest and i really like the paradigm system in that it speeds up the ATB without removing too much control from the player (unlike that other FF...)

but they really fucked up with that stupid upgrade equipment system and to be honest the first time i played it never occured to me how much of the game consist of character randomly finding themself somewhere for no reason... they become l'cie - whoops now they are in a lake,they exit the lake,something explode,whoops! now they are somewhere else

Final Fantasy 5 : eeeeehhhh i don't like job system, and FF5 only reason to exist is the job system, the way some boss can be skipped through obscure FAQ knowledge also kinda annoy me (like i think there is a combination of skills that can make atomos level a multipler of 5 so you can instantly cast level 5 death on him or something like that) so that's all i have to say about it

Final Fantasy 4 : everything about this game is old, the plot, the lack of gimmick, the encounter rate, if you really like your rpg without any salt or spices you would like this

Final Fantasy 3: see FF5

Final Fantasy 1: see FF4

Final Fantasy 12: and yes,of all modern final fantasy for me 12 is the worst, there is absolutely no sort of plot here other than matsuno attempting a big war/political plot together with his two other pal and then throwing it all away while saying "it was a demon all along!" which is what he did for FFT, and for tactics ogre, and for vagrant story,and for every game he has ever done... the gambit system is awfull and even the joy of leveling up is eaten away by the whole thing with the license

filling up that book with lore fact is cool but even that become a chore when the game ask you to kill 5 elemental that only appear when the game feels like it because stuff

Final Fantasy 2: no way in hell i'm touching a kawazu game,worst final fantasy evah!

[Yulwei]

On FF12: I thought the plot was the least offensive thing about it, Magus. The combat system is what really killed that game for me. It was pretty much an auto attack simulator. It was a game of setting up the best DPS gambits so you could buff your party up and then watch them hack away at monsters for hours and hours. Doesn't help that the game floods you with mobs every five fucking steps. As much as I disliked that game I still thought it was better than 13. 13 was somehow even more repetitive than 12. It lacked the mob, boss and area variety that 12 at least managed to pull off.

[magus]

why would anyone write so many words about ff

ask andrew vestal, not me

[Howard Alan Treesong]

why would anyone write so many words about ff

ask andrew vestal, not me

Hahahaha, this is kind of a sick burn honestly.

This burn are sick.

[Himu]

12 actually has a lot of interesting and great ideas in its writing. The way it flirts with the idea that Ashe's merits for taking Dalamasca are born from revenge and malice over what she lost and not the actual people is done extremely well. Though, the game doesn't do it enough for my liking. The game also doesn't say that "the demons did it". The Occuria are practically Gods, and in the game, the Occuria want YOU to kill the one that has infected Cid. You obviously weren't paying attention, and Cid's not even the main villain.  Moreover, the initial Occuria scene is one of the best written and acted scenes in the game. I'd love to talk more about it, but I haven't played XII in a long time as I've been waiting for the International version in English before I replay for a fifth time. We had a lot of great talks about Final Fantasy XII's story at the Something Awful Final Fantasy Megathread and it had easily the best discussion - story-wise - out of all the games. By any legitimate metric, 12 is easily the best written Final Fantasy. Problem is, the original director/writer left partway, so it kind of suffers from Suikoden III-itis in that the later sections of the plot are kind of  but aren't offensive. It still has a lot of great stuff though, Cid especially. Still, the politics, lore, and world are are some of the better realized stuff in Final Fantasy. XII has a lot to like.

Real talk, FF is best when split into categories since they're all so fucking different. Comparing 7 to 8 for instance, makes little sense.

[Mr. Gundam]

Final Fantasy IV is my favorite, but I played it when it first came out. I could see someone coming to it now finding it old, dated and full of cliches.

I also love XII and agree with what Himu is talking about.

[Himu]

RE: categories. Story-wise, I think VI, X, and XII are the highlights.

VI from top to bottom has the best story in the series, I feel. A big problem with every FF - barring X - is that halfway, the story peters out. This is mostly because FF tends to be a plot-based franchise. FFVI fixes this by going from plot-based (first half) to character-based (second half) which fixes many of the story issues that plague Final Fantasy games. This is great because the first half is fast-paced and sort of impersonal, whereas the second half is slow-paced and very personal. Combined, it tells a very realized story that knows what it's going for.

X may not have a better story than VI, but it easily has a better plot. The entire game is about Yuna and her journey to sacrifice herself. Each location sets up and builds this up. For this reason, X is very good with characters. But unlike other FF's where plot goes batshit halfway, X stays the course, because again, the game is about Yuna and her journey. You aren't trying to stop someone from destroying the world in X and I think the games plot benefits greatly.

XII's story, taken as a whole isn't particularly great. But what pushes it above the rest is its storytelling. It is well written and acted - extremely well, in fact, and individual moments like these really benefit:





The Drace scene is so good.

As an addendum, I really enjoy the story pacing of FFVIII. It is action set piece after set piece and makes other rpgs look boring. You go from assisting a foreign power in a military mission in Dollet, to conducting a kidnapping mission to retrieve the President of Galbadia on board moving trains, and then on to Deling to conduct an elaborate mission to assassinate a sorceress, a prison, bombing a missile base, stopping missiles from hitting Garden, and the Garden wars with Galbadia Garden. Fuck yes.

Let's look at this in video form and bask :



And that's without mentioning the Laguna flashbacks.

[Himu]

Final Fantasy IV is my favorite, but I played it when it first came out. I could see someone coming to it now finding it old, dated and full of cliches.

I also love XII and agree with what Himu is talking about.

When I first played FFIV in 1999, I still thought it was great. I was playing it via emulator, so the snes version, but still loved it. There really aren't that many rpgs out there that are about redemption, so IV still sticks out. It also sticks out because of its story/gameplay structure and character deaths. I love IV to fucking bits. The great thing about IV is that, you never knew what was going to happen. Party members would leave at their whim. A lot of people see the character deaths are story-based but I've always taken them as gameplay-based. For example, when you have Palom and Porom, you're set, dude. You've got a wicked black mage and a wicked white mage in your party. Then all of a sudden they're turned to stone and you've got jack shit, buddy. Taken from your grasp just like that. Without those two, you have to completely change how you play the game at moments haste, at least for a bit.  IV's unpredictability craft a fantastic first time playthrough, but it suffers on replays for the same reason: due its lack of open-ended party customization and its emphasis on story/gameplay structure, there's much you can do to change things. You will always lose those mages. This is why I like the Augments system, it gives a lot of extra stuff to think about and gives FFIV even more replay value.

So IV is pretty fucking unique. If I can play FFIV and every other 2d FF in 1999 in the middle of the 3d renaissance, I'm sure someone can play through it now. Then again, I've never been much of a graphic whore.

[Himu]

Jesus, I think the word weaboo jumped the shark with that post.

[Himu]

I think VIII, XII, and V have the best gameplay. With Tactics and X-2 thrown in for good measure.

Funny thing about VI and X: their actual gameplay isn't that hot. VI's later sidequests and world exploration kicks ass and it has some fun boss fights, though. The WoB has great story and gameplay variety too, so that keeps you on your toes. So I ease up on it, but the Esper customization system is easily the worst customization system in the series. It is So these days when I play VI, I just have Celes and Terra learn magic. Makes the game slightly more challenging, which isn't saying much.

X's gameplay is pretty lol. The only good fights are the boss fights. CTB is objectively a great battle system, but the game only has a few areas (mostly all boss fights) where it takes advantage of this. Its side quests are mostly middling and range from tedious shit like touching butterflies, the chocobo racing, and lightning dodging to grindy shit like capturing 999999 monsters throughout every location in the game for the arena. Sphere grid makes it similar to FFIV, in that customization is light. It's possible to jump on other peoples grids, but it makes every character carbon copies. X, in a gameplay sense, is flawed as fuck, and a low-tier FF because of it. The world, music, story, plot, and characters are all it has going for it.

XII's gameplay is piff. It was awful when I fought it and refused to use to gambits. I did that for 50 hours. It was terrible. FFXII without gambits is garbage. But with gambits, it turns into something else. When playing FFVII all I can think of is: I'd rather be playing XII.

[magus]

It also sticks out because of its story/gameplay structure and character deaths.

i appreciate someone said that because it give me a chance to post this again

[Himu]

Yeah well, the nub sees that as YANG SACRIFICING HIMSELF. I see it as, fuck me, my monk is going to kill himself. who else do i have that has high attack like this fucker goddamit.

[Joe Molotov]

Let me protect you, Lightning-chan.

[AdmiralViscen]

The game where the main character turns out to be a dream from ghosts doesn't go batshit halfway through?

[Himu]

Well, that's really just a plot twist. It doesn't really change nor impact the plot the actual story much.

[Himu]

It doesn't. Especially compared to past FF's. After it is revealed they're just like, whatever, let's keep journeying. Because Tidus being a dream is not the backbone of the plot. Yuna's journey is, and this remains constant. Compared to VII where Cloud has a mental breakdown and summons a giant meteor and is missing almost the entirety of disc 2. Or FFVIII's orphanage plot twist. In X, the plot twist doesn't really impact much, and it isn't nearly as whacky. In the other games, the plot twisr changes the entire story and the story becomes much harder to absorb and understand. Despite being a crazy plot twist, FFX still remains grounded and easy to understand post-twist. But you haven't beaten it so I understand the confusion.

[Himu]

Yeah. The twist is dumb but it works out in the end because the ending is

And yeah, an actual blitz all sports game I've been waiting on for years. The fact that SE never made that is another fucking waste of potential. This company is so stupid. All they have to do is make the most simple shit like a mobile version of triple triad.

[AdmiralViscen]

If anything the orphanage garbage is the one that could just have one scene deleted and have no impact on the plot. And the cloud thing isn't batshit to me, it's a guy with PTSD who latches onto someone he admired. Fairly grounded once you accept that magic spells exist.

Non-batshit twists in X include: Yuna will die in the summoning, Jecht is sin, the summoner's ally dies along with the summoner, Auron is a wandering spirit, Wakka is gay

[Himu]

My argument is that the plot in 3d Final Fantasy games tends to go batshit halfway. Your goals change or the game is entirely different from the beginning. I'm not talking about any plot twist. I'm talking about the overall story. In VII it goes from a story about terrorism and environmentalism to chasing a Goth guy and science experiments. VIII goes from a story about paramilitary with kids to traveling into the goddamn future. Even after the plot twist in X, X remains grounded and doesn't lose the plot. It is only ever about taking down Sin. For this reason, the story benefits greatly. That is what I meant: not that it doesn't have batshit story elements (an FF staple).

[Himu]

This morning since I woke up early I played more of VII and did most of the Shinra building. God, Sephiroth sucks. What a shit character. Shinra are so much better bad guys.

[Great Rumbler]

The whole of FF7's story should have been about Cloud, Tifa, and Barrett being terrorists.

[Himu]

Seriously.

[Joe Molotov]

Part 1 of Year of Final Fantasy is in the books, but it's not FF4. I took a detour back to where it all began.

Final Fantasy
Fainaru Fantajī
Original Release: December 17, 1987
Edition Played: PSP
Time to Beat: 15 hours
Score: Nostalgia/10



Played this while I was waiting for Bravely Default. I got to the final dungeon, then put it on hold for BD, but I decided to go ahead and finish it before I got totally sucked into BD. This was my second RPG after Dragon Warrior, and although I loved DW, FF1 was on a whole other level. I had the strategy guide from Nintendo Power and I used to pour over it for hours, even before I got game, just checking out all the monsters and dungeons and weapons and shit. Decided to buy the new strategy guide for bonus nostalgia. /nerd

[El Babua]

XII is my fav cause I'm a grinding loot whore.

XII Intl. HD better come the fuck out.

[SantaC]

8 > 6 > 10 > 9 > 10-2 > 12 > 5 > 7 > 13 > 4 > 13-2

[Himu]

XII is my fav cause I'm a grinding loot whore.

XII Intl. HD better come the fuck out.

BUY FFX HD TO TELL THOSE SLUTS AT SQUARE THAT FFXII HD NEEDS TO HAPPEN

[Himu]

I have no other recourse.

[magus]

I have no other recourse.

kickstart unsung story

[Joe Molotov]

Final Fantasy II
Fainaru Fantajī Tsū
Original Release: December 17, 1988
Edition Played: PSP
Time to Beat: 18 hours
Score: No Levels, WTF/10



This was one weird mammajamma. It was uh "interesting" to play, but it had so many little annoying quirks and jankiness, that it was not exactly fun to play. But yet I couldn't stop playing it! Well, back into the dustbin for this game.

Now comes the tough decision. I was planning on sending the PSP back to the closet after beating FF1&2 playing the rest on my Vita, but man, I don't know now. I had forgotten how slick the PSP-3000 was, it's so perfectly sized. It fits right in your hand, and had great controls as long as you didn't have to use the nub. The Vita is a behemoth compared to the 3000. *waffles*

[Himu]

You forgot the II in your title name

i'm on disc 2 of FFVII

[recursivelyenumerable]

Post-GBA FF1 is not FF1, silly

[Himu]

FF1 gba and psp are awful. If you wanna play ff1 play ff origins. best version.

[demi]

I have 1 & 2 on my iPod, its on my to-play for sure.

[Joe Molotov]

Post-GBA FF1 is not FF1, silly

FF1 gba and psp are awful. If you wanna play ff1 play ff origins. best version.

I tried playing "Original" difficulty FF1 on FF:Origins about a year ago, and man I'm too old for that. Easy mode knocks off about 15 hours of gridan. 

[Raban]

Now comes the tough decision. I was planning on sending the PSP back to the closet after beating FF1&2 playing the rest on my Vita, but man, I don't know now. I had forgotten how slick the PSP-3000 was, it's so perfectly sized. It fits right in your hand, and had great controls as long as you didn't have to use the nub. The Vita is a behemoth compared to the 3000. *waffles*

PLAY IT ON YOUR PSP. I've recently been playing through Monster Hunter Freedom Unite on it and came to the exact same realization you did. The PSP-3000 feels incredible in your hands. Once I pick it up I hate to put it down.

[Himu]

I beat ff1 gba without dying once. Jesus christ what an abortion. But if that's your style I guess I cannot blame you.

[recursivelyenumerable]

The problem is without the difficulty, the sense of a heroic journey is gone, and without that there's not much there there. It's not like there's some great audiovisual spectacle or drama to keep you entertained, it's all about the feeling of perilous adventure.

[demi]

The Windows Phone version is the superior version - it has achievements

[Joe Molotov]

The problem is without the difficulty, the sense of a heroic journey is gone, and without that there's not much there there. It's not like there's some great audiovisual spectacle or drama to keep you entertained, it's all about the feeling of perilous adventure.

I'm just looking to beat some games, breh, and I ain't trying to marry one. 

Oh God, though, the camera swing before every attack in FF3...I'm kinda feeling nauseous already. Looked to see if you could disable it in Config, nope. We get it, it's 3D, congratufuckinglations. 

[recursivelyenumerable]

I mean, I get that you don't have time for grinding and shit, but if that's the case you may as well not play it at all. Hence why I pretty much don't play RPGs anymore.

[a slime appears]

Hey guess what? Final Fantasy sucks.

[Trent Dole]

Yeah really surprising to hear that from a goddamn DQ slime.

[a slime appears]

Yeah really surprising to hear that from a goddamn DQ slime.

You're right, lol. I'm currently playing the FFXIV beta on the PS4. It's alright.

Does Bravely Default count as part of the FF series since it's practically the same game except the name? Hell, it's a pseudo-sequel to 4 Heroes of Light.

[Himu]

TAKE THAT BACK, MR. SLIME

[Joe Molotov]

Final Fantasy III
Fainaru Fantajī Surī
Original Release: April 27, 1990
Edition Played: PSP (Vita)
Time to Beat: 22 hours
Score: 4 Airships/10



Smacked that bitch up! I was going to get to Lv. 60 and try again, but instead I was just like "screw it" and queued up some ESPN docs and spent about 2:30 hours grinding to Lv. 65 then went and put my boot up her ass. Felt good.

My final party consisted of:
Luneth - Lv. 66 (Devout Lv. 38)
Arc - Lv. 66 (Ninja Lv. 84)
Refia - Lv. 66 (Dark Knight Lv. 64)
Ingus - Lv. 66 (Dragoon Lv. 99)

Of the Famicom FF's, III feels the most complete. The story was still threadbare (even with the few additions they made to the DS version) but everything else felt like an improvement over the first two. I enjoyed it up until the frustrating ending section, but even that wasn't too bad. I'm ready to get back into the SNES era, though. Cecil's been hanging out at the Mount Ordeal while I finished up I-III.

[Himu]

What the fuck. FFIII is on PSP?

[Raban]

It's on everything. Even on fucking Windows Phone for god's sake.

[Himu]

I knew it was on mobile but I didn't know there was a PSP version.

[Joe Molotov]

I knew it was on mobile but I didn't know there was a PSP version.

Like all the other ones, it's just a port of the DS version.

[Himu]

Well yeah. They lost the source code to FFIII nes.