Final Fantasy XIII

[luckton]

The story is not what did it for me.  Every FF game has some kind of far-fetched convoluted story in which they have a short amount of time to establish the world/story/lore.  It was just easier in the 8/16-bit days because they only has so much room on a single cartridge.  For XIII, perhaps they did go a bit nuts in trying to come up with something truly more creative than the last twelve times they've done this, but they did put in a bunch of readable, quickly accessible lore articles to read at your discretion.

The bad voice acting/theatrics, the retarded combat system that also went back to separating the live world from battles, and ridiculous item/equipment/economy is what made me give up about halfway through. 

[MediumHigh]

Funny how the jrpg is alive everywhere else but consoles.

[Fabricated]

It's well alive on consoles, just not as the Final Fantasy series.

The Tales of <foo> series is about as straight up JRPG as you can get minus the more action-oriented battle system. Random encounters, shitloads of items, pretty traditional map traversal into towns with progressively better items in the shops, nonsense adventure that turns into somehow fighting god or whatever, anime as hell, etc.

And we're up to like a bakers dozen of them.

[Rendakor]

Also Persona, Disgaea.

[Rasix]

I could pick nits, but the cupboard is so bare, you might as well include them.  Disgaea is a sRPG and Persona is Persona. 

[HaemishM]

That video made me glad I stopped playing FFXIII about 15 hours in. What a shit thing I can't even call a game.

[luckton]

Rise from your grave, reincarnated on the PC.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/292120/

The whole trilogy is getting ported, with Lightning Returns coming in the Spring.

Looking up, I can see that my earlier commentary is what keeps me from clicking the Buy button. If anything, this is good news in that FFXV, should it ever see the light of day, will make it to PC as well.

Guess I don't have to worry about consoles again 

[Nightblade]

Rise from your grave, reincarnated on the PC.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/292120/

The whole trilogy is getting ported, with Lightning Returns coming in the Spring.

Looking up, I can see that my earlier commentary is what keeps me from clicking the Buy button. If anything, this is good news in that FFXV, should it ever see the light of day, will make it to PC as well.

Guess I don't have to worry about consoles again 

I think I just threw up a little.

[Phildo]

Stop giving these people money.

[Velorath]

Rise from your grave, reincarnated on the PC.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/292120/

The whole trilogy is getting ported, with Lightning Returns coming in the Spring.

Looking up, I can see that my earlier commentary is what keeps me from clicking the Buy button. If anything, this is good news in that FFXV, should it ever see the light of day, will make it to PC as well.

Guess I don't have to worry about consoles again 

Final Fantasy games shouldn't have made you worry about consoles for at least 3 console generations at this point.

[luckton]

True, but I think with the turn-around seen in XIV and the lessons learned from XIII, XV might be a redeemer for them.

Or the final nail in the coffin. It's a 50/50 thing really 

[HaemishM]

True, but I think with the turn-around seen in XIV and the lessons learned from XIII, XV might be a redeemer for them.

Your innocence tastes like a child's tears.

[Miasma]

Terrible game.  Utterly shattered my square-enix inner fanboy.

[SurfD]

The only thing that really pissed me off with the Final Fantasy franchise was the way they (at least to me) totally fucked up the "Fantasy VS Technology" thematic progression vibe they had going on.   I played pretty much every Final Fantasy game up untill 9, and I always though it was kind of neat how each game put a bit more focus on Technology and less on Fantasy as the numbers increased.   In early games, "Science / Technology" stuff was crazy rare, and "Fantasy / Magic" was the norm.  Then you got to the middle games, with the blending of the two "Magitech" and stuff like that.  Then by 7 the world had turned into almost SteamPunk light, and heavy Technology was everywhere while magic, like the Materia, was really rare.  I was totally hopeing that they would continue the theme with 9, and have the entire thing be something like a quest to actually find "Magic" again, as it had been almost completely lost, and maybe make the setting completely Sci-Fi, but instead they did an almost full 180 and tossed us back into a setting that might as well have been from FF3.  Sure.  I know the appearent Thematic progression of the FF games was not intentional, but I was still sad when 9 crushed my hopes :/

[luckton]

If anything, 9 is #2 on my list of all time FF favs. It was a fan-love letter to those who enjoyed the fantasy theme of 1-6, while incorporating all of the new tech and shiny of the hardware at the time. Besides that, 8 wasn't as highly regarded as 7 was, and they were probably looking to change the beat. The "forward-progression" you describe seemed to backfire a little bit on the broad-scale, so they went with what they knew they could do best.

13 was just bananas with going overboard on the fantasy/sci-fi hybridization.

But I see where you're coming from. The new trailer for 15 looks like something you and I both might enjoy.

[Velorath]

If anything, 9 is #2 on my list of all time FF favs. It was a fan-love letter to those who enjoyed the fantasy theme of 1-6

Except with a bland plot, only one interesting character, and horrible art direction (especially in regards to the characters). As many faults as 8 had, 9 marks the point where I stopped liking the series.

[Rasix]

My thoughts on 9 are known.  It's the reason I didn't run out and buy a PS2 for 10.

The first 40 hours of XIII are pretty awful.  Gran Pulse was neat-ish.  XV likely won't influence my purchase of a next gen system.

[Fabricated]

I thought 9 was a good game until the end. 8 was a hunk of shit that made me almost give up on the series, then 10 pretty much did make me give up on the series until I played 12 which was actually pretty good.

I watched someone pay 13 and it looked horrendous.

[schild]

VII made me give up on the series (VIII was an unadulterated abortion). XII almost brought me back, but it was really just a screensaver for my brain.

[Rendakor]

Agreed on the ending of IX. The game was decent, but instead of letting Zidane die a heroic sacrifice they brought him back because reasons after a nonsensical "I'M THE REAL END BOSS" reveal.

X is the one that killed the series for me; they made the jump to PS2 and decided that FF should be about pretty graphics and cutscenes instead of interesting stories and challenging gameplay. Anyone who played and liked X is to blame for why XIII is as bad as it is. XII is kind of an outlier in that they tried to go back oldschool a bit, except the combat was shitty nonexistent.

Here's my top 5 FFs: VI, Tactics, VII, VIII, IV

[Rasix]

VII made me give up on the series (VIII was an unadulterated abortion). XII almost brought me back, but it was really just a screensaver for my brain.

We are the co-presidents of the "What the hell does everyone see in VII" club?  Yah, it has a great moment or two, but the game is just dreadfully boring to play. 

I never played VIII.  I played the demo and hated it instantly.

XII is one of my favorites, oddly enough.  Too bad the difficulty curve was completely shattered if you completed even a fair amount of the side content.

[Quinton]

XII is one of my favorites, oddly enough.  Too bad the difficulty curve was completely shattered if you completed even a fair amount of the side content.

XII played with combat, had no random encounters, combat on the main map, party ai, lots of good stuff.  XIII super-linear structure and meh combat system was a big step back.

I liked VII but it was my intro to the series (yeah, I know I know) and just was this weird-ass combination of RPG slog and little minigames and whatnot and I had a lot of fun with it.

[Lantyssa]

Same.

But I also liked X, and think I'd like XII but got interrupted in my play through and never went back.  I wanted to love Tactics, but always ended up at a point where I just couldn't win battles.

[satael]

VII made me give up on the series (VIII was an unadulterated abortion). XII almost brought me back, but it was really just a screensaver for my brain.

We are the co-presidents of the "What the hell does everyone see in VII" club?  Yah, it has a great moment or two, but the game is just dreadfully boring to play. 

I never played VIII.  I played the demo and hated it instantly.

XII is one of my favorites, oddly enough.  Too bad the difficulty curve was completely shattered if you completed even a fair amount of the side content.

I actually enjoyed ff-12 probably the most of all ff games so far though ff7 will always be somewhat special for me mostly due to the time it was published (ai. all the nostalgic stuff associated with it that has actually relatively little to do with the game itself).
ff-12 was quite fun and the whole gambit system meant you could automate alot of the combat so it didn't get as ponderous as some of the other ff games towards the end (and the story wasn't that terrible).

[luckton]

I actually enjoyed ff-12 probably the most of all ff games so far though ff7 will always be somewhat special for me mostly due to the time it was published (ai. all the nostalgic stuff associated with it that has actually relatively little to do with the game itself).
ff-12 was quite fun and the whole gambit system meant you could automate alot of the combat so it didn't get as ponderous as some of the other ff games towards the end (and the story wasn't that terrible).

And that's why 12 is my #1 as well 

[Fabricated]

FF12 looked/sounded great, combat was kinda plodding but an interesting change from the usual. Good characters too.

Shame that you literally spend half the game plundering old tombs while the entire plot happens elsewhere.

We are the co-presidents of the "What the hell does everyone see in VII" club?  Yah, it has a great moment or two, but the game is just dreadfully boring to play. 

VII was literally a playable shounen anime. That's pretty much it.

[Rendakor]

Same.

But I also liked X, and think I'd like XII but got interrupted in my play through and never went back.  I wanted to love Tactics, but always ended up at a point where I just couldn't win battles.

That's the worst part of Tactics; specifically the multi-stage battles where the game would encourage you to save between fights except some of those 2nd fights were much harder than the first. The fight with Wiegraf where you have to solo him with Ramza cockblocked a lot of people because if your Ramza wasn't a) sufficiently high level and b) a good melee character the fight was literally unwinnable. If you saved right before it and didn't have a backup, you had to restart the game entirely because you were fucked. It didn't happen to me on the first playthrough, but when I went back a few years ago I'd forgotten about it and decided to spec my Ramza as a caster. Ended poorly, and no amount of class-swapping could get the job done because I just didn't have the levels for it.

[Nightblade]

FF XII is funny because it just falls completely to shit abruptly and completely.

FFVII holds up incredibly poorly and probably should have taken place entirely in Midgar.

[ezrast]

That's the worst part of Tactics; specifically the multi-stage battles where the game would encourage you to save between fights except some of those 2nd fights were much harder than the first. The fight with Wiegraf where you have to solo him with Ramza cockblocked a lot of people because if your Ramza wasn't a) sufficiently high level and b) a good melee character the fight was literally unwinnable. If you saved right before it and didn't have a backup, you had to restart the game entirely because you were fucked. It didn't happen to me on the first playthrough, but when I went back a few years ago I'd forgotten about it and decided to spec my Ramza as a caster. Ended poorly, and no amount of class-swapping could get the job done because I just didn't have the levels for it.

Ha, that almost happened to me because I'd leveled Ramza as a thief or something stupid. I managed to cheese it, barely, because my other party members had granted him just enough Summoner JP to learn a spell that would outrange Wiegraf's movement by 1 tile.

I alternated between three save slots after that.

[schild]

If it weren't for IV and VI, I would consider FF to be the most overrated series in gaming.

[Thrawn]

If it weren't for IV and VI, I would consider FF to be the most overrated series in gaming.

I've....never played IV. 

[koro]

If it weren't for IV and VI, I would consider FF to be the most overrated series in gaming.

I've....never played IV. 

Well it's on Steam for $15 now! 

Also I like Final Fantasy. VII's alright, but I got tired of it years ago. I adore FFIX, even though I only played it for the first time in 2012.

FFXV will probably not be good. It's been in development hell since what... 2006? When it was originally called FF Versus XIII? It's even lost major dev staff over the past month, and its release keeps getting pushed back.

[Phildo]

V was pretty good as well.  I go back to play that almost as much as IV.

I'm in the pro-9, anti-7 camp as well.

X is the one that killed the series for me; they made the jump to PS2 and decided that FF should be about pretty graphics and cutscenes instead of interesting stories and challenging gameplay.

VII was the exact same thing for PSX.  The Midgar cutscenes were pretty mindblowing for 1997.

[Ceryse]

If it weren't for IV and VI, I would consider FF to be the most overrated series in gaming.

I've....never played IV. 

Well it's on Steam for $15 now! 

Also I like Final Fantasy. VII's alright, but I got tired of it years ago. I adore FFIX, even though I only played it for the first time in 2012.

FFXV will probably not be good. It's been in development hell since what... 2006? When it was originally called FF Versus XIII? It's even lost major dev staff over the past month, and its release keeps getting pushed back.

FFVI and FFIV are my favourite games in the series.. so I actually looked when you said they were on Steam. Oh my god. I will stick with my emulator version; it doesn't look nearly so god-awful.

Add me to the list that liked FFIX and thought FFVII was 'meh' at best. I liked Tifa.. and a few moments here and there, but by and large never understood the love for the game.

[Rendakor]

X is the one that killed the series for me; they made the jump to PS2 and decided that FF should be about pretty graphics and cutscenes instead of interesting stories and challenging gameplay.

VII was the exact same thing for PSX.  The Midgar cutscenes were pretty mindblowing for 1997.

This is true, but it didn't seem to come at the expense of gameplay. VII was a shonen anime but still also a good game, requiring a decent amount of exploration. X took all of that out, giving us linear hallway zones and no overworld map to speak of. Maybe it's where they always wanted to take the series, but it seemed like VII, VIII and IX still had plenty of off-the-beaten-path content that was really lacking in X. I realize that modern games are all about making things really easy, but I still prefer having to figure out where to go next, what to do, etc. by talking to NPCs instead of walking in the only path that's available or following a glowing trail.