General Final Fantasy Thread

[slan69]

I am afraid I am getting to be the same way. Nothing really grabs me anymore in the RPG area for consoles. I think I am getting old man syndrome.

- You youngsters and your PS3LMNOP's! Back in my day we had just had Mode 7 and we liked it! Are heroes were sprite based and none of this fancy smancy CGI garbage! Also get off my lawn!

I suppose I will only be content with just buying/acquiring remakes of "classics" for each new system that comes out probably forever!

Hey now I am young and I don't really like the new RPG's, I still love all the old classic ones, for example Chrono Trigger. I for one am with you on buying old classic remake's, I actually bought Final Fantasy 1 & 2 for the PSP even though I already have it for the NES, and PS1. I am not looking forward to the new Final Fantasy XIII that will be coming out for the PS3 because I feel that it has most likely lost it's originality that all the older FF's have.

 

[Dar_Klink]

Hey now I am young and I don't really like the new RPG's, I still love all the old classic ones, for example Chrono Trigger. I for one am with you on buying old classic remake's, I actually bought Final Fantasy 1 & 2 for the PSP even though I already have it for the NES, and PS1. I am not looking forward to the new Final Fantasy XIII that will be coming out for the PS3 because I feel that it has most likely lost it's originality that all the older FF's have.

Final Fantasy XII was pretty original, compared to the rest of the series, which is why a lot of people really didn't like it.
I keep wanting to go back and beat it, but I get bored and lose interest a little bit into it,but it seems like that's just games in general right now.

 

[CowTip]

I'm unique insomuch as that I started on the old games but enjoy the new ones a lot more. I remember back when I was 7 renting Final Fantasy 1 over and over hoping that in between rentings no one would delete my save game on the one copy they had at the rental place so I could finish the game. I had to start over about 8 times and the farthest I ever got was Kraken. It wasn't until I begged my parents to buy me the game that I could finally finish it. I loved that game and while I was a big fan of all the ones after (They were red letter days when they finished the FF2, FF3 and FF5 fan translations), FF7, 8, 9, and 10 were the ones that kept me playing the longest. I remember feeling tingly the first time I saw the FF8 opening sequence and tearing up over parts of it. FF7 was just downright fun to play and FF9 just had a charm I couldn't get over. I loved Square so much that I ended up buying every Square game made for the PSone (Einhander took me a long time to find ) FF10 came out and I was crazy for it. After pumping around 100 hours into it and finally getting myself to finish the story... I was a little heart broken to see how they ended it. The old games were fun, but they're so much a grind fest whereas the later games are more an experience. Some people are in for different things, but I love the feel and pacing of the newer games.

Then FFXI came out... 6 years later I finally was able to give it up (more or less, I'm still keeping my account for the story additions). I didn't mind 12, but it just didn't feel like a Final Fantasy game to me. It wasn't a bad game, but for the first time in the history of the series, I wasn't hooked on it. I even put it down for somewhere around 6 months before finally finishing it and near the end it almost felt like a chore. The game basically played itself with me stopping the action to heal from time to time.

As for 13, I was reserved after 12, but the most recent trailer from TGS really got me interested again. The battle system looks interesting and the graphics are amazing. Hopefully the narrative can pull through. I'm also looking forward to 14, but mostly in the hopes that it's FF11 with the bad taken out. There's plenty of annoying things in 11 and if 14 can't address some of those issues, I'll be over it almost immediately.

 

[Th3Branded0ne]

Final Fantasy XII was pretty original, compared to the rest of the series, which is why a lot of people really didn't like it.
I keep wanting to go back and beat it, but I get bored and lose interest a little bit into it,but it seems like that's just games in general right now.

I think the other way around. If it's original then it should be pretty interesting to play.

 

[Dar_Klink]

I think the other way around. If it's original then it should be pretty interesting to play.

I meant that it was original as in different from the other Final Fantasy games. You're not the chosen hero, the playable characters isn't even the main character, it had a different fighting system, and it wasn't as melodramatic as the other FF's.

 

[CowTip]

Honestly, my only real problem with FF12 was the combat. It was downright boring for me. I was cool with the story, though it was so deep and there was a lot of lore you sort of needed to hunt around for to really understand everything that that's probably what turned people off the most about it.

 

[Aazealh]

Honestly, my only real problem with FF12 was the combat. It was downright boring for me. I was cool with the story, though it was so deep and there was a lot of lore you sort of needed to hunt around for to really understand everything that that's probably what turned people off the most about it.

I have to disagree here. The only good thing about it, and the reason I enjoyed it as much as I did, was the combat. They inspired themselves from FFXI's (and MMORPGs in general) gameplay and in doing so saved their franchise as far as I'm concerned. Random battles shouldn't exist anymore.

In my opinion the story sucked for the most part, and so did several of the characters. The last battle is a joke and features one of the most generic and uncharismatic last bosses ever. What I had the most fun doing in the game? Hunting. The reason I am not too enthusiastic about FFXIII is that they are bringing the fighting system closer to what it used to be. I haven't been following news on the game too closely these days, but the fighting system will be determining whether I buy the game or not.

 

[Death May Die]

FF 12 had the combat system where you could plug in automatic attacks/actions right? Did FF 11 have that?

 

[Aazealh]

FF 12 had the combat system where you could plug in automatic attacks/actions right? Did FF 11 have that?

No, since in FFXI you didn't have bots in your team, they were other players. The part that came from MMORPGs is free roaming in precisely defined zones, enemies always visible in said zones, engaging them doesn't cut to a different screen and then back to the map, etc. It cut out a lot of the tedium to me.

 

[CowTip]

I went all the way through FFXII pretty much only intervening to heal and launch mist charges. Gambits set things up so that everything else was done on it's own and I personally found it way too cumbersome to bother doing it any other way. If anything, you could almost zombie your way through the game by spamming Pheonix Downs. There was a large amount of customization, but very little incentive, at least for me, to bother with it and I managed to get through most of the hunts before I got tired of them and went and finished the game.

That and the random drop from chests crap was not fun to me at all. I don't think many people were really that happy about having to run to the same chest over and over again to get a specific drop.

Honestly, FFXII turned out to be my least favorite next to FFII though. Funny how that worked out for me.

 

[Aazealh]

I went all the way through FFXII pretty much only intervening to heal and launch mist charges. Gambits set things up so that everything else was done on it's own and I personally found it way too cumbersome to bother doing it any other way.

Personally I only set minimal gambits and never fully automated them. And I'd say that making them do everything alone would have been more cumbersome than the other way around.

 

[CowTip]

A lot of it depended on how you set up your gambits. They built the game around gambits and even showed pride when it was released that the gambit system was so well made that you could make your characters do almost anything you wanted through them. I can't help but think back to that Penny Arcade comic: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/9/8/ (though they had a much harsher opinion of the game than I did. They pretty much stated that they hated FF12 whereas it just failed to really captivate me). I also pretty much never cast a spell unless a mob was absolutely resistant to melee which was rare (Another thing that reminded me of FF2). Sure you could go the route of using magic, but personally I never found much incentive for doing so when a few melee attacks would do the job. I remember cheesing my way past the last Gilgamesh fight at level 45 just by meleeing with reverse constantly up thanks to my gambits and all I had to do was throw a pheonix down to revive someone when reverse failed. I sat and watched the game play itself through the final battle of the game .

I'd say the biggest thing 12 had going for it was the amazing amount of things available to do outside of the main plot if that's your thing.

 

[Aazealh]

A lot of it depended on how you set up your gambits.

Well, yeah, like I said. Sure, you could set it up so it did everything. But you could also set it up so it didn't. It was up to the player.

Sure you could go the route of using magic, but personally I never found much incentive for doing so when a few melee attacks would do the job.

I didn't mind the magic, however I thought the summons really sucked. Completely worthless.

 

[CowTip]

I pretty much agree, though they were good for quick saves if you found yourself in trouble. I suppose they can't be overpowered in every game. *cue 20 minute summon video*

 

[SaiyajinNoOuji]

I pretty much agree, though they were good for quick saves if you found yourself in trouble. I suppose they can't be overpowered in every game. *cue 20 minute summon video*

Ha! I think back to FF8, I just could not stand that game. I couldn't stand the gimmick of stealing magic from certain enemies and either using it to power up your weapon/armor or using it and then having to go back to get more if you use it all up.

I promptly traded it for a hibachi grill and I never looked back.

 

[Aazealh]

Ha! I think back to FF8, I just could not stand that game.

On the topic of FF8, it still has the coolest summon-related scene of all times: Odin getting slashed up by Seifer, then Gilgamesh appearing and taking his sword.

 

[Death May Die]

On the topic of FF8, it still has the coolest summon-related scene of all times: Odin getting slashed up by Seifer, then Gilgamesh appearing and taking his sword.

I was so confused when that went down. Speaking of which is it possible to get Gilgamesh to use each one of his swords. I kept getting him using one or two different swords. Maybe it depended on who you were fighting.

But man the Eden summon took forever. For just one hit. At least knights of the round (which took so long) had more than one hit within it. I was pretty amazed though when I used Eden and it broke 9999 in damage. First time I ever saw that in a FF. I thought the game had cracked or something.

 

[Dar_Klink]

On the topic of FF8, it still has the coolest summon-related scene of all times: Odin getting slashed up by Seifer, then Gilgamesh appearing and taking his sword.

Oh man, that was great. I had no idea what was happening at the time, but it was awesome.

 

[CowTip]

Don't forget that in FF8 on top of watching the super long summon scene you also had to hammer on the circle button to boost damage. Repetitious AND gives you carpal tunnel!

Though outside of the draw system, which I agree was incredibly tedious, I actually liked FF8 the most out of the 3 PS games. Definitely an unpopular opinion, but I had a lot of fun playing it.

 

[Chiron]

On the topic of FF8, it still has the coolest summon-related scene of all times: Odin getting slashed up by Seifer, then Gilgamesh appearing and taking his sword.

haha I remember when that games came out and the add was "with over an hour of cut scenes!" Which I think are still pretty damn sweet 10 years later. I enjoyed the way that one didn't tell you everything, there were things that had to be assumed. It was the first I played so it was my fav for a long time. Now that I think about it, IX is the one I think is the best. Great soundtrack, a not so annoying female lead, a male lead who I liked, gameplay was pretty good all in all a pretty solid game.

 

[Death May Die]

I only ever got Gilgamesh to use two swords primarily out of his selection. Does is he actually able to use each one of them?

 

[Aazealh]

I only ever got Gilgamesh to use two swords primarily out of his selection. Does is he actually able to use each one of them?

Yeah he can use all four: Zantetsuken, Masamune, Excalibur and Excalipoor.

 

[Dar_Klink]

FFCC- The Crystal Bearers
Anyone else think this game is looking pretty badass? I think I'm looking forward to is more than 13, although that might just be because I don't have a PS3 yet.

Edit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pz2O-JviA60
found some English footage.

 

[Walter]

Anyone else think this game is looking pretty badass?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q9thBmh09M

This is udderly ridiculous!

I'm not really excited about FFCC... but I am looking forward to the new DS Final Fantasy, Four Warriors of Light: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zuR5TYWNUo&NR=1

 

[CowTip]

That cow video... I just... well...

Those are the most dangerous nipples I've ever seen!