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I'm daring to make a Final Fantasy topic on the board. Run for the hills!

(Note: this post uses Japanese numbering only to avoid further brain damage)

I used to love the Final Fantasy series. I started with IV, loved V's setting, and was impressed with VI. I never was able to get the hang of the first 3 NES ones despite trying the originals and some remakes a few times. Like many, I was thoroughly impressed with VII, and I found VIII to be a lot of fun. I hit a wall with IX, disliking many many parts of it, and pretty much completely dropped off the series at that point. X was on PS2, which I never got, XI automatically got ignored due to being a MMORPG, and XII was another PS2 release. XIII came out on PS3, which I do have, but comments about it being the Best Corridor Simulator of 2010 turned me off it very quickly. Don't get me started about XIV.

I'll admit I've always kept at least an eye on the series, since I loved the SNES titles so much and enjoyed most of the PS generation (despite taking forever to get through VIII). Since a large part of the team behind the games changed around X, and the design of the games themselves having evolved quite a bit, I didn't see much appeal in the most recent releases.

Still, I'm curious, and playing a similar-style game in HD might be a lot of fun. That leaves me with two main contenders. In the left corner is XIII-2, which is said to have fixed many of the design problems of the original. I've long being somewhat drawn to XIII, for reasons I can't really explain to myself, and XIII-2 might do the trick. In the right corner, it was recently confirmed that an enhanced version of X is coming to the PS3. I've often seen that one called the "last great Final Fantasy" game, so maybe it should be my pick instead, even if it's older.

What do you think?

Or should I forget all that and get Xenoblade instead, which is finally confirmed for a release in North America?


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Necro
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Personally I wouldn't say Final Fantasy X is the last great Final Fantasy, but the first really bad one. Pretty much the majority of issues people claim plague FF XIII plague FF X as well, but for some bizarre reason people ignore that they're there in FF X too. That isn't to say the issues aren't there in FF XIII though.

Honestly, I was actually pleasantly surprised by FF XIII, due in part to all the hate I saw it get online. I expected it to be complete crap and when I got it as a gift, it actually wasn't that bad. A great majority of the game is pretty linear, but I found the battles to be pretty enjoyable. Story is.. kinda silly, but then, most FF games have silly stories.

That doesn't really help with FF XIII-2 vs FF X, but if you go into FF X expecting it to be "The Last Great Final Fantasy" you might be overhyping it.


Black Dranzer.exe
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Well, let's give a little overview of how bad things have gotten for 3D Final Fantasy games.

Final Fantasy 7 - One of gaming's many sacred cows. It's actually pretty darn good, although the fanboys have pretty much ruined it with the extended universe around it. The game itself had a decent battle system with the Materia system and felt fairly epic. This also had arguably the least silly of the 3D stories.

Final Fantasy 8 - I used to really love this game growing up, but I find it more and more tedious the older I get. There was a time when I didn't mind fetch quests like the Draw system, but that's no more. Story was silly and contrived.

Final Fantasy 9 - The true "last great Final Fantasy". Despite the Cabbage Patch visuals, it's easily the most fun you can have with any of the modern generation. I will say the story is silly, but it isn't as open about it as some later games.

Final Fantasy 10 - You know what, I really hate this game the more I see of it. The stupid blitzball minigame, the awful one-dimensional characters, and even the battle system feels just a little off. Story was inexcusably bland and predictable. Not actually that good of a game.

Final Fantasy 10-2 - Great if you like fanservice, throwing your money away, and the worst characters from the last game. Bad if you like actual fun.

Final Fantasy 11 - Did not happen. Period.

Final Fantasy 12 - Look, I can appreciate wanting to spice combat up, but this was just not good. The story was laughable, and the entire equipment mechanics to the game make me nauseous. I'm amazed this game doesn't get more hate than it does.

Final Fantasy 13 - The combat system took another step down with the awful Quick-time events and the fact that you barely have control over what goes on. The story lumbers on at first and then just dives into nonsense. I can't even remember character names from this. I don't actually think it's the worst 3D game (Clearly 10-2), but it sure as hell isn't very good.

Final Fantasy 13-2 - Merely average. The combat isn't quite an unintuitive, albeit I still don't like true sequels in this series. If we're technical, I'll give it a passing grade if only for showing some actual improvement. Story is still silly.

With a gun to my head, I'd say go get 13-2 if only because 10 is horribly overrated and lacks pretty much any depth to the story or characters. You'll hate the majority of them, and the gameplay is never enough to save a bad story in an RPG.

Edit: I forgot to touch on this. I'm still shaking my head wondering why Square Enix is remastering 10 instead of 7. The franchise invested far more money into the universe of 7. The fanboys are all chomping at the bit and still snatch up copies of 7 constantly. I'm confused why they would troll their own fanbase like this when it would be a win-win for both sides.

Edited by Black Dranzer.exe on February 8, 2012 at 13:20:41


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Quote from post #229550:
Originally posted by Black Dranzer.exe
I'm still shaking my head wondering why Square Enix is remastering 10 instead of 7. The franchise invested far more money into the universe of 7. The fanboys are all chomping at the bit and still snatch up copies of 7 constantly. I'm confused why they would troll their own fanbase like this when it would be a win-win for both sides.


I think this tidbit is easy to explain: VII is old, 15 years old, and two generations of hardware behind. X is 10 years old, true, but only one generation away. You can take a PS2 game, put it in HD, remake some textures, add some polygons, redraw some interface elements, add surround sound, and you're about good to go. That's why they're calling it a remaster. VII, on the other hand, just wouldn't hold up: the 3D models are very simple, often not even textured; all backgrounds are pre-rendered in beautiful low-res images; the script was, let's admit it, poorly written; and the sound effects are weaker. To have a decent product available for sale, able to reach beyond the hardcore fanbase, they'd need to do a full-blown remake which would be much more expensive.

VII is the darling one, yes, and one I'd probably be all over if there was a remake. The steps to get there, however, are huge and might not be worth it from a corporate point of view.


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Necro
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Whoa, what? Final Fantasy VII's story is beyond ridiculous. In fact, pretty much every game in the series pretty much is (with the exception of maybe Final Fantasy V and VI).

Hell, you go to the freaking moon on an airship that looks like a whale in FF IV. People always like to pick a time in series where it jumped shark and the stories got silly but they've pretty much been silly all along.


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FFT is the best FF game.

I'm not talking about those silly FFTA games. The original FFT (and it's PSP remake) is the best FF game around right now. Period.


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For what it matters, I picked up XIII-2 today! I had some store credit left to purchase one game, it was about to expire, and few games on the shelves looked interesting, so I decided to take the plunge.

I played the demo last month, and I liked what I saw. The graphics are obviously nice despite some odd character designs, the lack of completely random battles makes it fun to walk around, and the battle engine has a nice structure that allows you to change your strategies very quickly. The story is apparently the biggest gripe people have against the game, but since I haven't even played XIII, I'm starting with the idea that I won't understand half of it.

I don't know when I'll actually get around to play it, but I'll get there eventually. I'll save you, Lightning!


The admin formerly known as Dr. Cossack.

I post musings, images and nonsense on Tumblr! I play games on Steam! Add me on either/both, and don't hesitate to ask if you want to play something with me!

"There are only three things certain in life: Death, taxes, and Teej's obsessions." ~ RisingDragon (still true in 2019!)