Concerning Final Fantasy 7, 10, and 12.

[Void Droid]

Simply put it all comes down to personal taste, if you enjoyed the games then who cares what other people think.

VII for me was the best FF game (not the best game ever, just best FF) because I liked the characters, I liked the setting, adored the Materia system and as I don't believe graphics make a game I found the blocky look both quirky and fun.

X I enjoyed the battle system, being able to change characters mid battle, using the summons as additional characters was great, even the storyline wasn't too bad but I just did not like any of the characters, just didn't click with me.

XII is an interesting one for me and for the last month or so I've wanted to go back and play it but don't own a copy. I loved the instant freedom, you could level up at the start and go almost anywhere. I enjoyed designing the characters battle style, if I wanted someone to be an archer, even if they cutscene says otherwise then I'd make them an archer and it would work. Characters not so great but I enjoyed the battle system, it was a nice change and when it came to the gambit system the few times it annoyed me the game gave me the option to NOT use it and still input manually.

It seems like more people have a problem with the games (years after the release as pointed out all ready) because the complainers are the people who shout loudest, most people who like a game are happy to accept it and get on with playing.

 

[Sajuuk-khar]

X isn't really disliked a lot I think. Sure there's some people who hate it, but a lot who liked it. I liked X as well mostly. I really don't know about XII cause I haven't played it. From what I've heard the game just isn't much fun to play even though it's trying to be more of an oldskool jRPG.

Ah but VII. Well my personal opinion is that VII is just an average game. It's not very bad, but it's definitely not the eighth wonder of the world either the fans make it out to be. And that's the problem: VII has a lot of bizarre hardcore fanboys who think Cloud/Sephiroth are the greatest, deepest, prettiest characters ever. Lot's of people disagree with that, including me. Besides that the argument is that VII is style over substance and that it's gathered a lot of it's popularity because it was the first 3D FF people played.

As for me, VI is the best.

 

[Eefness]

From what I gathered X wasn't considered that bad. Although I've only been looking in forums the last few years and the hate for X could have been really bad like XIII but since it's been so long so many people have forgotten their hatred for it. I find the hate and love for X to be fairly even.

As for me.

I absolutely love X and it's my favourite of the series. Actually, it's my favourite game of all time.

I found VII to be very good.

And I found XII to be overall good.

I can understand if someone hates X and XII but, the things that annoyed most people in them didn't really annoy me. Although I do agree with most people that XIIs story was very slow in some areas.

Well most people I find seem to hate 10 solely for Tidus and 12 solely for Vann (Though I somewhat agree) but that is something I never got, in 10 you really didn't have that much of a choice in Tidus but for the most part the game was good, and in 12 Vann basically took a backseat after the first couple of hours. Hell in all my playthroughs I never used his tattooed chest muscled ass.

Although I do agree 10 is amazing. It did the battle system perfectly.

As far as FFXII goes, I only played the first hour or so of it and can't really tell you what I think. From what I did play, I can say it felt like they were trying to inject a little bit of WRPG into the series.

For the most part people kept complaining over and over and over that they didn't individually select each and every single move you teammates performed. But I thought that was a good change. Before it felt like everyone in your party were idiots but in 12 it felt like you were giving commands. Although I have to say I think 13 was trying to go for a refined version of what 12 did but completely screwed it up.



<_< I just really wish my PS3 wasn't the only model that isn't backwards compatible. That pissed me off more than anything.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Here's a curve ball for you:

Final Fantasy VIII is my favorite. HA!

Honestly, it is. I like the characters the most, the world the most, and the gameplay the most out of all of them. Yeah, I'm weird like that.

I've never actually heard of FF fans hating X. They always say it's the best out of the series. I disagree (see above), but I did enjoy it--and X-2 for that matter (Okay, yeah...this guy's insane. I know you're all thinking that now)

IX was all right, but not really my cup of tea. I've only played it once.

FFVII holds a special place in people's hearts--mine included--which is why it is so popular. There are so many reasons people defend that game, and I'm sure you've heard them all: Great story, memorable characters, amazing battle system, first 3D JRPG in the West, first RPG people ever played, Sephiroth, great music...
And then, of course, there is the list of reasons why people hate it: Horrible plot, cliche characters, materia was too confusing, graphics were bad, the typos were painful, stupid Emo Cloud, Aeris nagged, Sephiroth is a cardboard villain...
The list goes on for both sides. Personally, I think it's an amazing game.

XII I did not like because, to me, it screwed up what makes a Final Fantasy game: The characters. None of them were special. Everyone could use everyone else' weapon or skill, you never really got to go find out the backstory of any of them (I'm referring to how you could go on entire quests in the other games to learn about the characters) and none of them really had any real character to them.
Also, I know many people loved the gambit system, but I felt there was a serious problem when I could put the controller on the floor and the game would play itself and not need my input.

 

[Shirokurou]

I loved 7.
8 is my favorite, but probably due to Nostalgia.
9, I still can't finish, even playing it on the PS3.
10 I absolutely loved.
12 was meh... The story sucked.
13 was OK.

Dirge of Cerberus was fuckin' awesome... for that type of game.
Crisis Core had great set pieces. Specifically the ending.

 

[AzureRaven]

Disclaimer: I'm not stating these for fact, it's just my opinion, so don't bite my head off.

I liked 7 a lot, mainly the combat/materia system, I liked how that worked.
8 is good, but...I can never get used to the draw thing...and...it's reeeaaally easy to abuse. Still great though.
9 is probably my absolute favorite. It was the first I played and I just looove the story. Plus compared to the others it's hard to really -break- the game by being overpowered.(In my opinion, I could be wrong, I admit that.)
10 is a lot of fun for me. I like the solid story, and the sphere grid was really neat. Wish I'd have gotten the PAL version though.
12...I've never played but I just can't get into the story. Nothing against it...just my personal taste.
13 had a decent story, cool characters...but that combat system was just too bizarre for me. It worked, and it's not bad, but I guess I'm just weird.

As for 6 and before...they're interesting to say the least but I just couldn't get into all of them the way I could the 3D ones. They're still good, and fun to play, great games, but they didn't flow that well to me. Then again, never played 5 or 6. 5 I never tried and 6 because Kefka's fanboys need to stop raving over him. Idc that he attained godhood...he's still a clown.

 

[Phoenix_XIII]

Ok.

But to respond to your question about VII, X, and XII, I'll give you my two bits.

The story for FFVII literally makes no sense, at least not for the first 20-30 hours of play, and that is a very bad thing. At least in FFX you had no clue what sin was or what happened to your home or the summoners have to do to defeat Sin, but it was clear that those were going to be answered progressively as the game went on. That's why, in spite of its other flaws (terrible voice acting, to name one) FFX was a decent, engaging game.

Not so for FFVII. The problem that I've seen is that most FFVII fans are also anime fans, and anime fans don't mind when their stories don't make any sense so long as they have dudes with spiky hair and big swords, and so long as the general feel of the game is "awesome" and the girls in game are hot they don't mind the fact that the story is nonsense and that it takes 20 hours to even scratch the surface of what the hell's going on. Add to that that the gameplay is super slow paced, and it's really not that great of a game. Apart from the fact that it popularized JRPGs amongst the general public, it hasn't accomplished much.

As far as FFXII goes, I only played the first hour or so of it and can't really tell you what I think. From what I did play, I can say it felt like they were trying to inject a little bit of WRPG into the series.

With 7 they went back and answered things with Last Order and Crisis Core.

 

[Eefness]

Here's a curve ball for you:

Final Fantasy VIII is my favorite. HA!

Honestly, it is. I like the characters the most, the world the most, and the gameplay the most out of all of them. Yeah, I'm weird like that.

I've never actually heard of FF fans hating X. They always say it's the best out of the series. I disagree (see above), but I did enjoy it--and X-2 for that matter (Okay, yeah...this guy's insane. I know you're all thinking that now)

IX was all right, but not really my cup of tea. I've only played it once.

FFVII holds a special place in people's hearts--mine included--which is why it is so popular. There are so many reasons people defend that game, and I'm sure you've heard them all: Great story, memorable characters, amazing battle system, first 3D JRPG in the West, first RPG people ever played, Sephiroth, great music...
And then, of course, there is the list of reasons why people hate it: Horrible plot, cliche characters, materia was too confusing, graphics were bad, the typos were painful, stupid Emo Cloud, Aeris nagged, Sephiroth is a cardboard villain...
The list goes on for both sides. Personally, I think it's an amazing game.

XII I did not like because, to me, it screwed up what makes a Final Fantasy game: The characters. None of them were special. Everyone could use everyone else' weapon or skill, you never really got to go find out the backstory of any of them (I'm referring to how you could go on entire quests in the other games to learn about the characters) and none of them really had any real character to them.
Also, I know many people loved the gambit system, but I felt there was a serious problem when I could put the controller on the floor and the game would play itself and not need my input.

Ehhh different spokes for different blokes. I simply couldn't stand 8's story and found the game a bit too easy. The Junction system was pretty good but I found it a bit convoluted.

Oh your not that insane either, I found the job system in 10-2 to be awesome, brought a lot of variety to the game (though the story was a bit wonky and ........ cutetsy, also Riku was still a bit too jailbait but meh). I just need to get a used PS2 some time so I can play through it. So far I dont have one anymore, my PS3 apparently isn't backwards compatible, and Emulators dont work.

As Ive said, I really liked the battle system from 12, it took out a lot of the busywork and still provided a good bit of strategy. I mean pressing X to attack for the 100,000th time get tedious after awhile. And yea the job system in the game wasn't done all that well, but this is one thing that really pissed me off. See in the PAL version everyone had a different setup and secret licenses you could only unlock with certain Aeons. It was a MUCH better system and gave everyone their own flavor. BUT in the North American release they dumbed it way down and completely removed the uniqueness. I had to mod my PS2 to play the PAL version (which I still have).

 

[Defense]

Final Fantasy VII is hated now because it's popular. Not a single soul back then was complaining about it or talking about how Final Fantasy xyz was so much better.

Final Fantasy X had a lot of problems itself, but it's the same as Final Fantasy VII. Like VII, X is still highly regarded as one of the best games of its generation.

I haven't played Final Fantasy XII, but it seems like people are just whining because it's popular. It has a 94 on Metacritic and it's made by Matsuno himself, so it can't be that bad.

That's X not XII.

Also, there's nothing wrong with that clip and I'd be willing to bet most of the people that laugh at how silly it is do goofy things and think they're hilarious.

That clip was just bad localization, not Tidus trying to be goofy....

It's nowhere near as bad in the JP version.

But even if it were, their could've been a billion better and more natural ways to do achieve that goal. Just look at EVERY sitcom.

It's all about context bro. From what I got last time I played the game, it was supposed to be awkward and groan-worthy.

I loved 7.
8 is my favorite, but probably due to Nostalgia.
9, I still can't finish, even playing it on the PS3.
10 I absolutely loved.
12 was meh... The story sucked.
13 was OK.

Dirge of Cerberus was fuckin' awesome... for that type of game.
Crisis Core had great set pieces. Specifically the ending.

The price of freedom sure is steep.

The story for FFVII literally makes no sense, at least not for the first 20-30 hours of play, and that is a very bad thing. At least in FFX you had no clue what sin was or what happened to your home or the summoners have to do to defeat Sin, but it was clear that those were going to be answered progressively as the game went on. That's why, in spite of its other flaws (terrible voice acting, to name one) FFX was a decent, engaging game.

Are you serious? Final Fantasy VII was crystal clear when it came to basic story. You blow up a reactor, go to another reactor, help Aerith, save Tifa, and try to keep Sector 7(was that the sector?) from being crushed.

As far as FFXII goes, I only played the first hour or so of it and can't really tell you what I think. From what I did play, I can say it felt like they were trying to inject a little bit of WRPG into the series.

That makes sense, considering Matsuno is probably the most WRPG you can get in Japan when it comes to setting. All of his games are set in Medieval Europe with politics being a main aspect of the story.

ALL, and I mean ALL final fantasy games are horrible. Empty, soulless creation with as much depth as a cardboard cutout...

It sounds like it's time to stop posting buddy.

 

[Eefness]

ALL, and I mean ALL final fantasy games are horrible. Empty, soulless creation with as much depth as a cardboard cutout...

.................... well I dont like ponies ...................



See how useless that was, please elaborate.

D:
I thought 10 was awesome, I sunk hundreds of hours into that game, still gotta get around to finishing it though :/
10-2 on the other hand was total arse.

Ehhh I kinda liked 10-2, and not just because of the fan service. The job system is great!

 

[Defense]

ALL, and I mean ALL final fantasy games are horrible. Empty, soulless creation with as much depth as a cardboard cutout...

Gonna elaborate, or just leave this here like a pile of crap on the living room floor?

Kinda. There is no need to elaborate on something that is not worth the time to play but enough to comment on!

"It's not worth playing this game!"

"They're all shallow games!"

You need to work on your trolling Rainbow Dash.

 

[Jimmybobjr]

I agree with absolutrly nothing you have said. Number 8 is my favourite final fantasy ever, 10 is often regarded as one of the greatest final fantasys, and the last great final fantasy, and i personaly adore final fantasy 12.

I never played final fantasy 7, due to it being before my time, but i ahve played the re-released versions of final fantasy one and two on the Ipod, and final fantasy three on the DS.

The only final fantasy i truly hate is 13. I hate it witha passion- not because its a horrible game, but because SquareEnix made a final fantasy into horrible game.

 

[DocEvil000]

I've been playing Final Fantasy since I got Final Fantasy for my NES back in oh... 1990ish. Got the strategy guide for it and then finally had the $60 I think it was for the game and boom! I had it, played it, and played it, and played it, and played it, and what seemed like an eternity later (and also probably sometime in '92 as I know I restarted a few times for various reasons) I finally beat it. It had nameless characters and a decent plot for a 256kb game.

Since then I've played all the other entries in the series with the exceptions of being the two MMOs 11 and 14. And I'll go over what I did and did not like about all of them in brief explanations and these being based on the ORIGINAL versions of the game not any of the remakes.

2: The leveling system was awkward and frustrating at times, but I liked the use of the keyword system I wish it would have made a later return. It also had a sad story killing off most of those you met.

3: The Job system was fantastic but needed the refinement found in 5. Story was awkward and left you roaming around at times feeling like you were playing Dragon Warrior 2. Also hated the Dragon Warrior like grinding between areas to not be fucking owned by regular mobs.

4: Fucking epic, deep character development in Cecil and average in the others for even book standards. All that major plot events tie in at the end (except uh how do those who will them selves to stone that can't be turned back be turned back later?)

5: Interesting plot with good development late game of how the world came to be and the past stories of the characters. The amazing Job system and all of it's infinite wonder come into plan in a much more refined system than 3. Guessing what party config to use on some of the fights was kinda confusing at times.

6: Oh hey look, it's the beginning of LETS EVERYONE USE EVERY FUCKING SPELL IN THE GAME REGARDLESS OF WHATEVER REASON THEY SHOULDN'T! Fun game, loved the different skills for each class. Also had IMO the best bad guy of the series, Kefka.

7: More of 6's skill/everyone can use everything setup. Character count reduced to three, bleeehhhhh. Confusing ass story, and a lame bad guy and hero. Oh yeah and a tree-hugging Mr T wanna be.

8: Couldn't stand the battle system after about 15mins. Have never had a desire to turn on again

9: Goes back to what mad 4-6 fun! Okay but interesting story, okay character development, fun side games.

10: The beginning of the uberlinear FF games. Not a bad thing, or at least I don't think it is. I enjoyed the game despite it's horrible bad acting and the bad cloths. The mini-games were fun, the battle system was amusing, I loved how you could see how different actions affected turn order and I _LOVED_ how when you summoned creatures you fought AS that creature.

12: Didn't play but 15mins. If I wanted to play Star Ocean, I'd play Star Ocean, not Final Fantasy.

13: I liked it after the battle system unlocked fully. I died a hell of a lot too, more than any other RPG I've ever played. The battle system kept you on your toes having to watch for ques all the time on what to switch up your paradigms. The story, while not great was compelling and jesus, that game had a lot of FMV.

I could go more in detail but meh, I want bed.

 

[Defense]

ALL, and I mean ALL final fantasy games are horrible. Empty, soulless creation with as much depth as a cardboard cutout...

Gonna elaborate, or just leave this here like a pile of crap on the living room floor?

Kinda. There is no need to elaborate on something that is not worth the time to play but enough to comment on!

"It's not worth playing this game!"

"They're all shallow games!"

You need to work on your trolling Rainbow Dash.

I never troll. I just wanted to leave my thoughts on what I think is the worst series ever. My feelings are just as deep as the games but I still have them.

?

D'aww you're too adorable. You know I can't stay mad at you! *ruffles mane*

12: Didn't play but 15mins. If I wanted to play Star Ocean, I'd play Star Ocean, not Final Fantasy.

It's very different from Star Ocean, since Star Ocean has a habit of becoming "use skills to win" a few hours in the game. I heard it had much more in comparison with Dragon Age, but I wouldn't know myself not having played either of them.

 

[Latinidiot]

I liked 12 a lot. It was a big, ong game, and even though the story didn;t captivate me at a, it was fun enough to carry on.

 

[Shirokurou]

I loved 7.
8 is my favorite, but probably due to Nostalgia.
9, I still can't finish, even playing it on the PS3.
10 I absolutely loved.
12 was meh... The story sucked.
13 was OK.

Dirge of Cerberus was fuckin' awesome... for that type of game.
Crisis Core had great set pieces. Specifically the ending.

The price of freedom sure is steep.

We were never free. You just chose not to see the rails...

 

[Shodan1980]

I think one of the earliest posters had it right, some people come to the FF franchise on game z, (I was about to use the unknown quantity x there but realised that wouldn't work, stupid roman numerals) and they either hate it so never care, or grow to love it or one of the later games in the franchise. And once they fall in love with a FF game every subsequent change in later games feels a bit jarring cause its not like the previous entry that they held so dear.

Anyway, my two cents on the games:

7 I really liked though its only after playing Crisis Core and watching the movie that you really finally work out wtf was going on
8 was good but the way the enemy kept changing face made it really hard for me to care
9 I loved and the armour system was a superb tweak to materia
10 for me is the highlight of FF. Story was great, characters were entertaining, world was beautifully realised and I thought the Tidus/Yuna romance was fairly well done (and the laughing scene is bound to look awful out of context, but it's entire reason d'etre is that he's intentionally trying to look like a twat to break Yuna out of a funk if memory serves)
12 I started but I just really struggled to enjoy, gave up after 3 hours or so
13 I loved the story, didn't mind the combat system once you were allowed by the game to have a ravager and commando in the same party and thoroughly enjoyed the character's arcs

Also this, this is why I loved 13:


If you can follow whats going on in that the first time you watch it you're better than I

 

[Eefness]

ALL, and I mean ALL final fantasy games are horrible. Empty, soulless creation with as much depth as a cardboard cutout...

.................... well I dont like ponies ...................



See how useless that was, please elaborate.

That was not useless. :O I value your opinion and respect that you have your own and are not afraid to say what you think and care about.

Plus I learned something new from you, we are soon friends!

Ehhhhhhhhhhh ........ fiiiiiiiinnneeeee *Hugs*

 

[FalloutJack]

Oh, it's the Unpleasable Fanbase, always.

Final Fantasy 7 and 10 are fine and I've never even played 12, so I don't even know. What you're getting is a loa of contrived and one-sided opinions.

 

[Jerubbaal]

Are you serious? Final Fantasy VII was crystal clear when it came to basic story. You blow up a reactor, go to another reactor, help Aerith, save Tifa, and try to keep Sector 7(was that the sector?) from being crushed.

That's not a story, that's what you do. The story for the first 20-30 hours is as follows:

1)"Let's fight Shinra they're killing the planet!"
2)"The President's dead, but now his equally/more evil son is in power!"
3)"Let's stop fighting Shinra and instead go after Sephiroth because Cloud has some vague notion that he not only wants to destroy the planet, but somehow actually has the power to do so!"
4)"Let's fill in the backstories of Barrett and Red XIII with sidequests that last 3 hours long each!"

Basically the story falls about at #3 on my list. You have absolutely no logical reason to chase Sephiroth, mainly because as far as you know he has no ability to destroy the planet. Cloud just remembers (and falsely, I might add) that Sephiroth killed a bunch of people and rambled on about taking back the planet. At no point did Cloud have any reason to believe that Sephiroth had the actual power and ability to destroy the planet, making the party's decision to abandon their fight with Shinra utterly retarded.

And this isn't just me "overanalyzing." When I first played the gasme, my exact thoughts were "Wait, why are they going after Sephiroth now? They've clearly established Shinra as a threat, but they've done nothing of the sort for Sephiroth,"

And for the guy who mentioned that they made Crisis Core to explain the plot, the fact that you need 2 prequels to make sense of your story says a lot.