Final Fantasy XIII

[Rendakor]

The way I've always seen the FF series is a steady decline since VI. VII was still pretty good, and even VIII wasn't bad; it had flaws, such as the silly Draw magic system, but the story was still pretty good and the character customization options were still solid.

IX was just...meh. I didn't hate it, it was just the first FF that I didn't have the desire to replay as soon as I beat it. X was much too linear and suffered from cut-scene-hell; the sphere grid was it's only saving grace. XI was an MMO, so it doesn't even count as a true FF. XII's biggest problem was that the Gambit system was TOO powerful; with the right triggers set up, all battles became automated. As a result, the only time you're actually PLAYING is the walking from battle to cut scene. I've never been good at action RPGs anyway, so whenever I tried to control Vaan myself I performed much worse than just letting the game bot him around. Even the bosses could mostly be one-shotted with the limit breaks (or whatever they were called in XII). I got so bored with XII that it was the first FF I've never finished.

[Rasix]

IX was pure fan service, and bad fan service at that. It was like someone completely foreign to the series sat down and just picked random elements from previous FFs with the sole intent of producing an "old school" feeling FF.  The resulting Frankenstein's monster was a jumbled, bland, and ultimately forgettable mess.  The end cinematic was touching and that's about the only thing it had going for it.  I guess they felt something had to be done after 8, but regressing your design intentionally with the random hope that you some how stumble across your super secret formula is just ridiculous.  Vanguard level of design stupidity.   Until schild mentioned it, I had forgotten about how bad in ingame character design was.  That cooking lady, Steiner... blah.   

The "OHH NO, I AM THE FINAL BOSS, MUAHAHAA" was just icing on the shit sandwich.

[Mrbloodworth]

9 was awesome. I loved seeing the old class styling, at least in appearance.

[Cadaverine]

I liked IX as well, though not enough to finish it.  FF III was the last FF I ever finished.  I came close on FF VII, but after grinding out characters and shit in III, I just lost the will to go on in VIII, and subsequent Final Fantasy games just went further down that road, with the MMO Final Fantasy being the culmination of that design idea for me.  I think I made it all the way to level 7 in the MMO before uninstalling, and never looking back on the franchise.

[Hoax]

We need one thread where everyone has a post where they give their opinion on every part of the series so we don't have to do this every couple of years.

9 was dreck, because the characters were total crap, 8 had a story/cast that were decent at least.  I hated most of the cast of 9, the dumb knight, the main catkid the girl who I can't remember at all.  That shit sucked.

FF10 was a good game with a pretty cool story imo.  If people hate 8 I can get it but if you played all of them AND hate 10 I just don't get it.  FF10 had a great cast of characters and the story wasn't great but the setting systems and fights were good.  It was also back to being well paced and balanced difficulty wise if you knew to get quickening or whatever it was called.

[Merusk]

I guess it's all about what you're coming to a FF game for.  I like the systems, which explains why I hated 8 and 12 and thought 9 was tolerable at best.  Meanwhile I played the shit out of 7 and 10.  Good god I loved that sphere grid.  Auron was pretty badass, too, so I had a character I liked playing.   The stories in all of them were "meh," imo.

[stray]

Every character was pretty cool in 10 except for Titus.

[Kail]

I guess it's all about what you're coming to a FF game for.  I like the systems, which explains why I hated 8 and 12 and thought 9 was tolerable at best.

Yeah, probably true.  I really, really couldn't stand FFX, but I loved FF12.  The old combat system is what kills it for me, and why I'm not that psyched about FF13.  It drives me nuts that they keep coming up with these characters and stories that I think I could probably enjoy if they weren't trapped behind hours and hours of a type of gameplay I absolutely cannot stand.

I do wish they'd do an action RPG like Kingdom Hearts that I could play without feeling like a nine-year-old, sometime.

[stray]

I do wish they'd do an action RPG like Kingdom Hearts that I could play without feeling like a nine-year-old, sometime.

Well, it's not Square, but try Rogue Galaxy. The way encounters work is a bit old school though.


Action aside, traditional combat systems can be improved upon.. I don't think real time is always the answer. There's a lot of shitty stuff in that category too. A LOT. Hell, if you ask me, the best jrpgs in recent years are still kind of old school. Some have innovative enough features to keep it fresh too (like the Persona series).

[Simond]

8 had a story/cast that were decent at least.

what

[ghost]

Final Fantasy is interesting because you can always find someone that enjoyed each particular game.  And you can find someone that hated each game.  Personally, I think talking about them is more enjoyable than actually playing.

[stray]

Not to start a silly console war or anything, but I'm curious how this will do on the Xbox. It would be the clearest indicator of just how good or bad a big japanese title can sell on it. So far, you can make up all kinds of excuses on why this or that does poorly on the 360. They're not really noteworthy games even if good, or if they are, they're only in Japan and just too weird for most people here (Idol Master).

[Margalis]

Final Fantasy is interesting because you can always find someone that enjoyed each particular game.  And you can find someone that hated each game. 

Nobody hates IV.

[Nightblade]

The only decent character in 10 was Wakka, everyone else made me want to run towards the nearest living thing and kill it. The terrible voice acting for the rest of the cast didn't help matters either.

[schild]

Final Fantasy is interesting because you can always find someone that enjoyed each particular game.  And you can find someone that hated each game.

Nobody hates IV.

And anyone who hated VI is a liar that must be done away with in a gruesome fashion.

[Velorath]

Not to start a silly console war or anything, but I'm curious how this will do on the Xbox. It would be the clearest indicator of just how good or bad a big japanese title can sell on it. So far, you can make up all kinds of excuses on why this or that does poorly on the 360. They're not really noteworthy games even if good, or if they are, they're only in Japan and just too weird for most people here (Idol Master).

I don't think this will be any real indicator just based on the fact that by and large this game was developed for the PS3.  Unless Square pulls out a miracle, I don't expect the 360 version to look or perform anywhere near how the PS3 version will.  People with both systems will likely pick it up on the PS3 as a result.  That's not to say it will tank on 360, but I expect the numbers to be heavily skewed towards the PS3.

[schild]

Not to start a silly console war or anything, but I'm curious how this will do on the Xbox. It would be the clearest indicator of just how good or bad a big japanese title can sell on it. So far, you can make up all kinds of excuses on why this or that does poorly on the 360. They're not really noteworthy games even if good, or if they are, they're only in Japan and just too weird for most people here (Idol Master).

I don't think this will be any real indicator just based on the fact that by and large this game was developed for the PS3.  Unless Square pulls out a miracle, I don't expect the 360 version to look or perform anywhere near how the PS3 version will.  People with both systems will likely pick it up on the PS3 as a result.  That's not to say it will tank on 360, but I expect the numbers to be heavily skewed towards the PS3.

People with a PS3 will get it for the PS3. People with both systems will probably get it for the PS3 just because of past Final Fantasy titles. People with just a 360 will get it on that and probably don't and won't know any better.

[Velorath]

Not to start a silly console war or anything, but I'm curious how this will do on the Xbox. It would be the clearest indicator of just how good or bad a big japanese title can sell on it.

Also, just to mention one other thing in response to this, Lost Odyssey was actually a pretty good seller in the U.S. as far as JRPG's go.  It was no Final Fantasy (which unfortunately was where some expectations were due to the people involved), but compared to other JRPG's that get released in the States, it probably surpassed the majority of them in sales.

[stray]

That it was developed for the PS3 is kind of a non-issue, I think? I mean, I haven't played it of course... But I'm sure the quality will be roughly equal at this point. Besides, the name is recognized, the series is marketed well, etc, etc..

[Velorath]

That it was developed for the PS3 is kind of a non-issue, I think? I mean, I haven't played it of course... But I'm sure the quality will be roughly equal at this point. Besides, the name is recognized, the series is marketed well, etc, etc..

I'd be very surprised if the quality is equal enough to make it a non-issue.

[Musashi]

I want to punch Yuna in the dick.  In the dick, I said.

[NiX]

I'd be very surprised if the quality is equal enough to make it a non-issue.

Save that line for the inevitable Wii version.

[Bzalthek]

Every FF game released in the US I have enjoyed with exceptions.
I couldn't stand FF11 due to the soul-crushing grind.
I couldn't stand the older FF games which didn't originally make it to the US (I forget the numbering).  This is probably due to some psychological aversion to old shit.  Nostalgia carries the other titles past this hang up but I can't get into the games I hadn't played before.

[Mrbloodworth]

We need one thread where everyone has a post where they give their opinion on every part of the series so we don't have to do this every couple of years.

9 was dreck, because the characters were total crap, 8 had a story/cast that were decent at least.  I hated most of the cast of 9, the dumb knight, the main catkid the girl who I can't remember at all.  That shit sucked.

FF10 was a good game with a pretty cool story imo.  If people hate 8 I can get it but if you played all of them AND hate 10 I just don't get it.  FF10 had a great cast of characters and the story wasn't great but the setting systems and fights were good.  It was also back to being well paced and balanced difficulty wise if you knew to get quickening or whatever it was called.

IMO. It was ass. Due to one thing mostly.

[Yegolev]

Well, this is the first time I have heard of someone hating Wakka.

Scrap this thread, schild, it's hit a tree or two on the way to the bottom of a ravine.

[Rasix]

We could always do the "have it out here thread" with all future discussion along the same vein being denned/deleted ala Trammel/PC v Mac.

[Murgos]

<full nerd>

There is one irrefutable argument as to why FFVI is the best FF and it can be summed up in one word.

Kefka.

</full nerd>

[stray]

Well, this is the first time I have heard of someone hating Wakka.

He must be from a land of cold weather, no soccer, and lack of smiles.

[Bunk]

I feel way out of my comfort zone in a FF thread, but I have to ask - is XIII the one with Afro-Bird, and Surfer Dude fake-voiceover? If so, I may be interested  considering it will be on 360, despite the fact I know the combat mechanics will make my brain bleed.

[Yegolev]

Yes to Afro-Bird.

[Elerion]

<full nerd>

There is one irrefutable argument as to why FFVI is the best FF and it can be summed up in one word.

Kefka.

</full nerd>

<nerd high five>

[Musashi]

Yes to Afro-Bird.

Afro-Bird appreciates your vote of confidence, and provides this photograph of himself as proof of his providence.

 

[Yegolev]

I suppose the black FF fans now are rejoicing at not being stuck with Barrett.

[Ard]

The male ones at least.  Latin Americans are still left out of the Justice League though.

[Trippy]

I feel way out of my comfort zone in a FF thread, but I have to ask - is XIII the one with Afro-Bird, and Surfer Dude fake-voiceover? If so, I may be interested  considering it will be on 360, despite the fact I know the combat mechanics will make my brain bleed.

Yes to Surfer Dude too.