Final Fantasy Discussion

Hello Folks!

This thread is here to allow people to discuss any of the Final Fantasy games as they would like. I'm currently LPing FF VII so that may end up dominating the discussion at times.


What's Final Fantasy?
Final Fantasy is a line of popular role-playing games made by the company Square Enix. While each game functions under the same title, none of the games are related to one another (With exception to FFX and FFX-2). They have their own separate story and mechanics.
Beyond the numbered games, there are the FF Tactics and FF Crystal Chronicles series.

Also, there's Nobuo Uematsu. He created a lot of the music for this franchise and he's amazing.

RULE:

All spoilers must be kept within spoiler tags! Even if the game has been around for a decade or two, please have some respect for the people approaching the franchise for the first time.

Note: If anyone is interested, I could do some research on the background history of the games and game makers. There's been some interesting drama.

When you first post here, it'd be great if you could include:
What Final Fantasy games have you played?
Which ones have you finished?
Which one was your favorite?
Which one was your least favorite?
Which one would you recommend to someone new to the franchise?

What Final Fantasy games have you played?
I've played about every one of the numbered games except XI and anything beyond XII.

Which ones have you finished?
This is the embarrassing part. I've only finished IX, X, and XII.

Which one was your favorite?
So far, I like IX the best.

Which one was your least favorite?
Um, I'd say FF I even if that's a little unfair. I haven't finished it but I don't feel like it has aged well.

Which one would you recommend to someone new to the franchise?
That's a tough one. It depends on their tastes I suppose. I guess I'd recommend XII?

Good thread!

Have played: FFI (NES), FF2, 3 (iOS), FF6 (SNES), FF7,8,9 (Playstation), FFX,X-2 (PS2), FF13 (PS3), Mystic Quest (SNES), Tactics (PSN)
Have finished: All of the above.
Favorite: for gameplay, FF8. For story, FFX. For characters, toss-up between 6 and 9.
Least favorite: X-2
Recommend: FFX for modern, Mystic Quest for old-school.

Right off the bat, I'm a heretic for actually admitting to liking Mystic Quest. But I still hold it up as the absolute best gateway game for a first-timer getting into console RPGs.

It is a bit unfair. That game was fantastic if you played it around the time it came out.

Also 12 was the best. Or 1 but that's hard to compare.

What Final Fantasy games have you played?
I, II, IV, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, X-2, XII, XIII, XIII-2, Tactics, Dissidia, Dissidia duodecim

Which ones have you finished?
I, VIII, IX, X, X-2, XII, XIII, and Dissidia

Which one was your favorite?
This is a bit of a trick question for me. VIII is my favorite, but at the same time I would in no way say that it's the best Final Fantasy game that I've played. I'm not sure which game I'd give that nod to. Since I have yet to finish IV or VI, I might cautiously nominate IX, X, or XII for the spot.

Which one was your least favorite?
Of the ones that I've actually finished, probably XIII. Of the ones that I've begun but not finished, VII and XIII-2.

Which one would you recommend to someone new to the franchise?
That would really depend on who I was making the recommendation to. If it's someone with an interest in old-school RPGs, then it'd be IV and VI. If it's someone who's more interested in modern games, then probably X, maybe IX or XII depending on what kinds of stories they prefer.

THIS THREAD WAS CREATED SOLELY FOR MY POSTINGS

Which will happen as soon as my day calms down.

What Final Fantasy games have you played?
MAIN SERIES: I, II, III, IV, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII
SPIN-OFFS/SEQUELS: Tactics, Tactics Advance, Tactics Advance 2, Crisis Core, Dirge of Cerberus, X-2, XII: Revenant Wings, Dissidia, Dissidia 012.

Which ones have you finished?
Everything up there except: II, XI, Tactics Advance 2.

Which one was your favorite?
Final Fantasy XII is the best Final Fantasy and also my favorite Final Fantasy, and my favorite game of the last ten years. I would rank Final Fantasy VIII second, VI third, and then either X or IV. Tactics doesn't count, but I am a huge fan of Tactics as well.

Which one was your least favorite?
Final Fantasy XIII is the worst Final Fantasy game I have ever played, and I played AND BEAT Dirge of Cerberus. (And Dirge of Cerberus is really freaking bad.)

Which one would you recommend to someone new to the franchise?
Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection. Play Final Fantasy IV. I'm assuming it is less difficult than the DS version of that game, which is how I first played it, which is really hard. After that, I'd probably recommend X (to continue like that) or XII (to play a drastic departure that is also absolutely a Final Fantasy game).

I've never played a Final Fantasy game, so the header questions don't really apply. I'm interested in starting, though; what would be the best DS game to start with?

I'd say IV, and have an FAQ nearby.

What Final Fantasy games have you played?
I, um, haven't actually played any of them. But I have a huge amount of affection for the series, not only because it's awesome, but because when Matt and I first started dating, one of things we would do is play Final Fantasy games together - he'd play, and explain the mechanics, and I'd watch. I've seen VI, VII, VIII, X, X-2, XII, Dirge of Cerberus, and both Dissidias.

Which ones have you finished?
I have seen the endings of all except Dirge of Cerberus and X-2.

Which one was your favorite?
XII and VIII are tied for the honor, I think.

Which one was your least favorite?
X-2. When it was good, it was very good; when it was bad, it was SOOOO BAAAAD. Seriously, what the fuck was that?

Which one would you recommend to someone new to the franchise?
VI if they want an old-school RPG, XII if they want something more modern.

What Final Fantasy games have you played and finished?
I've finished 1, 4, 5, and 6 of the standard Final Fantasy games. I also finished Final Fantasy Legend 1, 2, and 3 on the Gameboy, and Final Fantasy Adventure on the same platform. I played one of the tactics games once, but I'm not sure which one.

What Final Fantasy games have you played and not finished?
I tried to get into 7, 8, and 10, but by that point it had devolved into anime cutscenes, and I sort of grew up. I have a hard time taking Final Fantasy seriously anymore, in the same way that I can't take the Transformers or He-Man franchise seriously. I understand that it has developed since my childhood. It just hasn't developed in ways I find interesting.

Which one was your favorite?
Probably Final Fantasy 4. It had the least retarded story, and the best music.

Which one was your least favorite?
Final Fantasy 7. That's when the graphics became good enough that they could mimic an anime style, and every other Japanese RPG has followed their lead since then. I don't dislike anime, I just think it's stylistically limited, and I would probably play more Japanese games today if they had put in the work to find their own muse.

Which one would you recommend to someone new to the franchise?
If I'm recommending a Final Fantasy game to someone, they're probably on the autism spectrum. Therefore they'd probably like Final Fantasy Legend 1, since it hits all the right aspergbuttons.

What Final Fantasy games have you played?

IX, Tactics Advance, XII, Tactics Advance 2, III, IV, Dissidia, XIII, Crisis Core (barely), VIII, VII, 4 Heroes of Light, Theatrhythm, Dissidia ... duodecim?

I tried to put them in chronological order. c: (By "date that I played them", obviously, not "date they were made".)

Which ones have you finished?

IX* (I have the art book!), Tactics Advance, Dissidia, Theatrhythm

Which one was your favorite?

Three-way tie between IX, Tactics Advanced, and Theatrhythm, all for different reasons. If I had to pick just one, I'd pick IX.

Which one was your least favorite?

VII and XII, I think, though I'm giving XII another try soon. I don't hate VII, but I lost interest pretty quickly; my sister and I rented XII back when it first came out and for some reason we just really didn't like it, despite loving the Tactics Advance setting/species.

Which one would you recommend to someone new to the franchise?

I have no idea! As you can probably tell by the first list being way longer than the second, I have a tendency to start games and then not finish them for years. The spin-off games are pretty fun, I think, but they lose a lot of their charm if you don't know most of the characters.

Note that I will always be using regular numbers because roman numerals confuse me and I hate them.

What Final Fantasy games have you played?
3 (DS remake), 4 (DS remake), 7, 9, 10, 10-2, 12, 13, Tactics (War of the Lions ver), Tactics Advance, and one of the Crystal Chronicles.
Also seen Advent Children.

Which ones have you finished?
Haha, oh man. Just 10 and 10-2. YUP. I am terrible at finishing games. I'm at the end of all the others (save 12 and 13), but for some reason or another I haven't finished them. I'm still playing Tactics at the moment, but I've playing that on and off over the past year because it's so good gurl.

Which one was your favorite?
Tactics and 9. Though 10 is pretty good too. that's right, I said it

Which one was your least favorite?
13 is so bad that I gave up on it only two hours in. I really wanted to like it, but I couldn't. It's terrible. Stop making sequels for it, Square.

Which one would you recommend to someone new to the franchise?
I dunno~

What Final Fantasy games have you played?
5 6 7 8 9 10 10-x 11 12 13, 13-x Tactic, Tactic advance.

Which ones have you finished?
5 6 7 8 10 10-x 12 13-x, Tactic, Tactic Advance.

Which one was your favorite?
6, 12, Tactic, multiple playthrough for each.

Which one was your least favorite?
13

Which one would you recommend to someone new to the franchise?
6

What Final Fantasy games have you played?
3 for the DS, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10-2, 12, 12: Revenant Wings, FF Tactics. And one of the Crystal Chronicles games.
Which ones have you finished?
Er...none of them? I've started all of them, but my main problem was that of all the older ones, 9 especially, I started years ago and when I went back to try and finish them off I had apparently lost the ability to play Final Fantasy. It doesn't help that I lost most of my save files and my poor PS2 died a horrible death. And, also I am horrid at tactics.
Which one was your favorite?
10 has a special place in my heart as my first ever FF game. But 9 has Zidane and Kuja so...
Which one was your least favorite?
8 never even got through the first two hours. I got lost on the map somehow and couldn't find my way back to town.

What Final Fantasy games have you played?
1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10-2. Watched bits of 12 and 13. 13-2. Tactics Advance, Tactics Advance 2, Crystal Chronicles, Tales of Chocobo, Chocobo Mystery Dungeon.
I have Tactics (PSP), Dirge of Cerberus and Dissidia somewhere that I haven't touched.

Which ones have you finished?
6, 9, 10, 10-2, 13-2* (I watched it till the end. I did all the sidequests.)

Which one was your favorite?
10 for gameplay and story. 6 for its sheer hilarious characters and the way they juggled them.

Which one was your least favorite?
Don't have one? I don't put things as least favourite unless I finished or close to finish them. so mhm.

Which one would you recommend to someone new to the franchise?
6 if they don't mind 2D sprites. 9 if they like 3D sprites?

I need to play 4! and tactics! and finish 7 and 8. Final Fantasys, why you so long.

Ok... It's been a long time since I've played a FF game, so I don't really remember which games in the series I've beaten... I think the only ones I managed to finish were FF7 and Tactics... I've played most of the numbered ones, though. I'll get a list made when it's not 3:00 in the morning.

That said, as someone who adored the aesthetic of 5, 6, and 9 (I do love 7, but I'm really a sucker for the medieval / steampunk feel that most of the series has had) do you guys think I'd like 12? I mean it looks fun, but I'm not usually comfortable with blindly buying a game based on looks... while I've discovered some awesome titles that way, I've also been burned more than once.

Let me play devil's advocate regarding Final Fantasy 12. Do you like Justin Bieber? If no, then every time Vaan is on screen you will want to throw a shoe at your TV. Speaking of shoes, in this game they are ridiculous. If you like the gameplay style of an MMO but hate other people, then FF12 is a great game for you.

I'm also not certain if there's an upscaled version of it - it looks absolutely wretched on modern HDTVs.

Vaan is hardly the bad character Nute is making him out to be. He's not as interesting as Basch, Ashe, Balthier, or Fran, but he's an excellent Disc One Protagonist, he's much-needed cheerfulness, and he's expertly voice-acted by Bobby Edner. I never had a problem with Vaan, and I've had issues with similar characters in other RPGs.

I've also played FF12 on an HDTV and thought it looked lovely.

I don't know how closely I'd compare 12 to the other games in general; it's very different on a number of levels.

I enjoyed the gameplay a lot; I found it much more organic than in previous FFs. It does away with the usual random encounter system of abruptly dropping the player out of exploration and into a separate combat screen (the "fight woosh" effect), which is something I'd lost patience with more and more as games increasingly proved that there were other ways of doing things that didn't require bringing the game to a screeching halt.

Opinions vary on the gambit system, which allows you to automate your party's actions and responses in combat. I didn't mind it, but I've heard many people complain that it makes it seem like the game is playing itself. On the other hand, you don't have to use gambits for more than a few basic functions if you prefer to keep your hands more directly on the characters' actions.

The storyline is more of a political intrigue - not that political intrigue isn't a usual feature of Final Fantasy games, but it's much more the focus in 12, whereas typically I think that sort of thing takes center stage mostly for the second act and then gets swept aside by some inevitable global calamity. 12 also does this weird thing where the player-controlled viewpoint character is... not actually the main character of the game at all. Good luck figuring out who is. (I didn't find Vaan all that bad, though, personally. Just he's a dumbass kid who's gotten caught up in events that are way over his head, and he pretty much stays that way through the whole game instead of coming into his own as The Hero the way you'd expect.)

Agreed, and quoted mostly so that I can say that I loved the voice acting for the whole damn game, with that neat pseudo-Shakespearean thing they have going on and all. FF12 is worth playing purely for the privelege of listening to Gideon Emery as Balthier talking at you for ~40 hours.

If you were annoyed by Tidus, Vaan will drive you through the wall. Have you seen Aladdin? Imagine the protagonist with even LESS charisma. Vaan is probably one of my least favorite FF characters and that includes the entire cast of FF13.

(that being said, the rest of the cast totally makes up for his shortcomings)

You were bitten by a radioactive mole rat as a child and have something like 20/infinity vision.

What Final Fantasy games have you played?
Mainline: I-VII inclusive, X
Other: XI, Tactics, Tactics Advance, Tactics Advance R2, Dissidia, Adventure, Mystic Quest

Which ones have you finished?
I, V. Show you how much this series holds my interest!

Which one was your favorite?
Mainline: V very easily
Other: Tactics Advance R2

Which one was your least favorite?
This is a much tougher choice, but I guess I'd have to say III.

Which one would you recommend to someone new to the franchise?
V. It's got the best mechanics of the ones I've played (the job system is fantastic) and it's got at least a couple of characters who aren't insufferable.

Also in a way FFXI is both my favorite and my least favorite game in the extended FF world. The best moments in that game are absolutely sublime, but the bulk of it is the worst kind of grindy, player-unfriendly, horribly designed garbage. Still, I've never experienced another MMO that even comes close to hitting those highs.

What Final Fantasy games have you played?
Main: 1, 3-14
Other: Tactics, Adventure, all three Legends, Mystic Quest.

Which ones have you finished?
All of the above except 3, for some reason.

Which one was your favorite?
FF6 is the strong winner, but possibly there's a lot of nostalgia for spending Christmas vacation wrapped in a blanket playing FF6 in the basement at work in that preference.

Which one was your least favorite?
If we're including all FF products, then FFL3 and Mystic Quest. Bleh. If we're only talking the main FF games, then FF3, which was the only FF game so meh that I didn't finish it.

Which one would you recommend to someone new to the franchise?
FF4. It's a nice hook into a lot of the classic Final Fantasy staples with a fairly straightforward story.

And now, trivia time:

Spoony turned out to be 19th-century slang for "foolishly sentimental", which makes it kind of accidentally brilliant - it's appropriate for the situation, and the sort of crazy-old-man word Tellah might use. You have to wonder what kind of dictionary the translators were using, though.

Also: is this the place where it's safe to mention that I might kind of be hopeful for FF14's ARR reboot? Because Summoners. And everything else.

What Final Fantasy games have you played?
I, IV, V, VI, VIII, IX, X, XII, XIII, XIII-2, Tactics, Tactics Advance, Mystic Quest, Crystal Chronicles, CC:My Life as a King

Which ones have you finished?
I, IV, VI, IX, X, XII, Tactics, Mystic Quest, CC:My Life as a King

Which one was your favorite?
Like others probably FF6 although that's probably nostalgia speaking. I'm also fond of the FF1 but that's really nostalgia speaking, mostly I was just really proud as a kid for having beaten it. The Rub spell still haunts me.
Tactics and Crystal Chronicles were also a lot of fun. I wish I had stuck with my playthroughs of V and Tactics Advance and XIII-2 but I guess I'm easily distracted.

Which one was your least favorite?
FF13 was really bland. FF VIII I could never get into. I came back to it after it had been released and didn't like the graphical style much and really hated the Draw system. So one of those two.

Which one would you recommend to someone new to the franchise?
FF6, definitely. The old sprites are charming and the world that is created for that game is a lot of fun to explore. Failing that, I'd say X, which is pretty solid as long you embrace hating Tidus and resign yourself to not doing everything in the game if it frustrates you.

Fun notes:
Cid wasn't in the first game, which means that the airship is probably the most iconic character. Of course that has nothing on the victory music.
Blitzball in X was pretty terrible. I used to grind through games while watching tv and just randomly pushing buttons so that I'd get past the various pauses. I even won some games that way.
XIII-2 wasn't that bad. It had some interesting systems and wasn't 100% linear like it's predecessor. Had they released it first people might not even think the series was completely doomed.

What Final Fantasy games have you played?
II, III, IV, VI, VII, VIII, X, X-2, XII, XIII, Tactics, Crystal Chronicles, CC:My Life as a King, CC:My Life as a Darklord, Theatrythm (does that count???)

Which ones have you finished?
IV, VIII, X, XII, CC:My Life as a King, CC:My Life as a Darklord

Which one was your favorite?
VI. I actually started my "yearly replay of FFVI" the other day and find that I still enjoy it. XII would be my second favorite by just a hair, followed by VIII. XII and VIII tend to get criticized a lot for their systems but I actually love the gambit stuff and I didn't mind the draw system at all. It was different, but nothing impossible to handle. Also I just love the character casts in XII and VIII. ;_; Right now I'm really addicted to Theatrythm, though.

Which one was your least favorite?
VII. I always get a lot of flak for not liking VII, but when I played it (note that I was still a kid of like... 11 when I played it) I just couldn't relate to any of the characters and found Cloud REALLY annoying. I eventually ragequit somewhere around disc 2. I'm kind of meh about X-2 and XIII, too, but I wouldn't say that I really dislike them or anything. One of these days I should go back and try VII again now that I'm a lot older, but I keep getting distracted by more shiny things...

Which one would you recommend to someone new to the franchise?
If they don't mind the older style, definitely VI... Preferably the older version with the silly Ted Woolsey translations, though the GBA version was quite good, too... Just not as quirky. :C Then probably X as a general recommendation since it's fairly good all around. Aaaaand then XII if they're older or would like a more mature game.

Played: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, Mystic Quest, Tactics (PSX), Crystal Chronicles, Revenant Wings. I also own X-2 and XIII-2 but have never played much of them.

Finished: 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, (11? haha), 12, Mystic Quest

Favorite: 12, by far. They took 11 and made it an excellent single player game.

Least Favorite: 8. At least until I got Quistis's blue magic oneshot ability. 13 is pretty close, the on-rails nature of much of the game was offputting.

Which would I recommend? 12. The game is excellent, the story isn't bad and there's plenty to do besides the main quest.

I seriously doubt it's aged well. Trust in your 11-year-old self.

VII as a game was revolutionary - it brought a genre that was associated with a quasi-medieval setting into the modern day. As a story, it was nonsensical and unwieldy. It was an important game, but I don't know that it was very good. I do like the characters a whole lot (most of them, anyway), but I think that's Advent Children and Kingdom Hearts talking. I got more out of them from those than from their original game.

Someone has never played Earthbound.

I never understand when I hear that FF 12 has an interesting storyline about political intrigue... did you play Tactics Ogre? Now that's what I call a game with a very well written potical-themed story. FF12 was kinda bland, I confess I don't even remember it very well now probably because it was so uninteresting. I have the same opinion of Nute about this game, I actually reached the end game and while finishing the sub-quests I asked myself: I'm really interested in seeing the end of this game? Nope. I nver got attached to any of the characters. (Althought I think the only merit of this game are the fanfict and yaoi pic of Basch/Vossler :P)

That aside, here are my answers:

What Final Fantasy games have you played?
Main: From I to X-2, and XII
Others: Tactics, Tactics Advance, Tactics Advance 2, Dissidia

Which ones have you finished?
On the main titles almost all of them, with the exception of the first three (1 and 3 because I lost interest near the end, and 2 because the game mechanics were HORRIBLE). And of the others only Tactics Advance (the second was boring in my opinion), because I'm playing with the original Tactics right in these days.

Which one was your favorite?
As someone else already said, my favourite is VIII even though I know it's not actually the best game in the series, it has some major flaws. I also loved X and 6, and of the older ones I think IV has the best story and characters.

Which one was your least favorite?
Well aside from the II, which I guess was a bad experiment of Square, as I already stated I don't like much XII

Which one would you recommend to someone new to the franchise?
That's hard to say, I think it really depends on the person, but probably IX because it's quite easy and has great characters.

Hey, to be fair, what I said above was not that it's an exemplary political intrigue story or anything like that - just that the political intrigue is much more of what the story is about than is typical of most FF games, which usually seem to really get into the politics in the second act or so and then turn an "oh shit never mind that the world is ending" corner for the third. I found it reasonably interesting, but mostly I was just pointing out the difference in case political intrigue was or wasn't particularly the asker's thing.

Just, you know. For the record!

I see. Well that's true, FF 12 is more centered around politics, but personally I love the "epic tone" of the other FF, it's part of the experience for me. I love the fact that the characters overcome their problem and fears fighing and otherwordly meance that wants to destroy the world. It's kinda... how can I say... cathartic.

What Final Fantasy games have you played? 1-6 and Tactics. Pretty much the old-school ones.
Which ones have you finished? 3.
Which one was your favorite? If I think about it, 4.
Which one was your least favorite? 1 is so dated it's not even funny. Why have a Thief class if they can't steal?!
Which one would you recommend to someone new to the franchise? If they want an SNES-era game with a scope that'll take their breath away, FF6. If they want a surprisingly engaging but simple story with memorable characters, FF4. If they want to laugh, not worry that much about plot, and see the class change system at its pre-FFT finest, FF5. If they want what is probably the best game in the series, though a strategy RPG rather than a straight-up RPG, FFT (though not the one that's obnoxiously pseudo-Shakespearean).

Or Ultima 2. I haven't bothered to get into arguments about how good FFVII is in a long time, but I definitely don't think it was revolutionary, besides maybe being the first JRPG (or one of the first at least) to have endless cinematic cutscenes.

You know, I have some lingering resentment toward FF12 that I just now put my finger on thanks to thinking about Dark Souls. For a while I thought I was just slightly annoyed at the characters (but really that isn't any different) or the fact the combat system felt too MMO-like (more valid but sort of the way of the times and the gambit system was at least decent).

It's actually neither of those things.

It was learning about the zodiac spear.

Because he can turn into a Ninja!

But he's the least useful class until then! (Though 4 Black Mages is the worst)

It was revolutionary for it's popularity? It didn't really do anything amazing story wise, other than kill a main character off. Graphics wise, was it the first 3d RPG? Certainly the first popular one. It certainly is important as a milestone for the rising popularity of the FF series and RPGs on the Playstation in general, and for helping the PS become the console for RPGs. I remember it being a big deal back in the day when Square decided to jump the Nintendo bandwagon.