Is Final Fantasy Worth It?

[BeeGeenie]

Definitely get into Final Fantasy.

The early ones were pretty simple, but good. FF4 is the one that got me into the series. FF6 was the pinnacle of the 2D sprite based series.

I think the Final Fantasy series has always been a rollercoaster, and each installment's success/failures are influenced by what came before: FF6 was awesome, and that helped FF7 gain the publicity to become the huge success that it was. Because of FF7's success, and impressive cutscenes, FF8 sold very well... but was unfortunately made of suck. Because FF8 was made of suck, people didn't give FF9 the attention it deserved, so Square went back to the FF8 formula.
They took FF8's unintelligible storytelling and unlikeable characters, and combined it with FF9's lack of suck, to create FFX, the standard of mediocrity for all the FFs to come.

In short, Pretty much any of the early ones, especially 6 are made of win. 7,9, and possibly 10 are also worth your time.

You'll generally find that anyone who played the early ones first prefers them, but people who started with FFX are more likely to prefer the new ones.

 

[SoManyCrimes]

[...]where Kefka's plan isn't announced until he's about to carry it out[...]

I've put that badly. Villains springing a surprise is good storytelling. But the mechanism by which he achieves his plan isn't referenced, when it would be so easy to mention it repeatedly as background noise about the world's mythology. Which would make it a far stronger surprise.

Instead, it's almost as if they didn't know what exactly was going to happen until they got to that scene.

 

[Saltyk]

This whole thing about Final Fantasy getting bad with [insert game here] is largely bunk. Each game should be seen on it's own merits. Those who say it all went downhill with this one or that one are just being elitist.

For example, people always say 7 is over rated. But I find 6 is praised despite it's flaws. There are way too many characters to keep track of in that game. With many of them seeming very much unneeded. Half your party is Yuffie/Cait Sith. It's not bad on the whole (great actually), but I just find it has too many characters.

FFVIII is hated on mercilessly. However, I happen to like the Gunblade. I find the story and world fairly interesting (Though Squall has some really annoying emo moments). And there are some great fan theories like "Squall is Dead" and "Rinoa is Ultimecia". The biggest problem is the Draw and Junction system. If that was streamlined or cut out, it wouldn't be as bad. But spending hours drawing magic, to place in your stats, so that you can stand a chance is not fun. Hell, I know people that say that FFVIII is their favorite one in the series. I happen to like it more than I hate it. And the opening scene is one of my favorites. Even Monty Oum even used it in one of his Dead Fantasy vids.

FFX was actually one of my favorites. The battle system was revamped, but enjoyable. While the Sphere Grid was hit/miss, being able to switch party members in mid battle with no penalty was nice. And as much as I loath Tidus, his Class of Combat Time Mage was really cool. Also, despite Tidus's statement to the contrary, Yuna is the main character. She's the hero. We're just watching her story through his eyes.

There are some great villains, too. Sephiroth, Kuja, and Kefka to name a few.

Is Final Fantasy worth it? Sure. Just find the games that you like and enjoy them.

Also, just because Spoony said it, doesn't make it true. I watched his FFVIII, FFX, and FFXIII reviews. While he had some points, I don't agree with him fully. I just found his episodes humorous. But his opinion doesn't color my own on the games.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

Personal opinions:

I - Hasn't aged THAT well except maybe in the remakes. It is cool to design your own party, but it has a very minimalist story and isn't all that complex

II - Just...weird. The narrative is better, but the leveling system is completely borked.

III - Introduced the class system which was really neat, but also has the fatal flaw of dungeons taking forever and having no save points

IV - Definitely where the golden age started with an actual in-depth narrative and interesting character. Sure, there's not a lot of freedom when it comes to party selection but you never really feel rail-roaded

V - Interestingly has a LOT of side quests and a huge upgrade with the class system. The narrative is nothing to write home about, but it's not bad either

VI - One of the best of the series with an epic plot, a huge cast of interesting characters, and the Magicite system was a cool way to personalize characters. However, it does have flaws such as there not really being a central protagonist in the game, some characters just being useless in battle when compared to others, and Kefka kinda just being a one-dimensional twit. It's a great game, but NOT as great as a lot of people like to say.

VII - Probably the best of the series. Its characters are very interesting and diverse (interestingly enough, not being prone to the "teenager" syndrome most people wrongfully attribute to Japanese games), the world is fascinating and unique, the plot is very in-depth and has some surprisingly deep and mature themes to it, has by FAR the greatest villain in the series, and the Materia system is just a great way to really customize party members.

VIII - Now THIS was the first legitimate flop of the series. The characters are, for lack of a better term, just a bunch of twits. Squall is a completely unlikable bore, Yuna is a complete non-character (seriously, I BARELY remember her personality), and everyone else is just a one-note caricature. The plot is a complete mess with holes the size of Canada and makes no sense. And then the Junction system. It's completely obtuse and unneeded. It's just a chore to reeassign GFs and spells. Furthermore, it is HILARIOUSLY easy to break, making fighting a complete non-issue. Skip it, it's not worth your time

IX - It's...okay. It's not BAD, but you're not missing anything if you skip it. THe problem is that this was SUPPOSED to be an entry in a spinoff series and got turned into a proper entry. And it shows. Sure, SOME of the characters are good (Zidane is an amusing rogue with some hidden depth, Vivi is angst-personified, and Freya is just AWESOME), but then I realize a LOT of the cast are just sorta flat. The princess for instance just does the STUPIDEST things imaginable early on, Adelbert is a reactionary character except on great exception, and Amarant, Eiko, and Quina are just superfluous. Furthermore the plot brings up things and then drops them with no further commentary, things just appear out of nowhere, and the whole thing is kind of a mess. Kuja is also not an interesting antagonist. Gameplay is alright, but unfortunately its skill learning requires equipment which means you might end up grinding. It's not the worst of the series, but not even close to the best. You're not missing anything if you skip it.

X - Better than IX, but also suffers from some issues. A lot of the supporting characters like Wakka, Lulu, Auron, Kimahri, and Rikku are interesting, but unfortunately they're pushed to the side for Tidus and Yuna. Tidus isn't a BAD character, but unfortunately he spends TOO much time with Yuna who is just BORING and stupid. Its plot is fine, but has some weird moments. Combat is actually REALLY good, but the leveling system is kinda weird. It looks like it should allow for heavy customization, but in fact that doesn't happen until you're at LEAST thirty hours in. The villains are also just forgettable, Seymour in particular being just bad. Again, like IX, you wouldn't miss much not playing it

XI - Can't comment, never played

XII - This one...is BAD. The director and writer left halfway through the game and it shows. It tries to make itself out to be this grand, complex tale of political intrigue but is mostly just boring. It's not helped by the cast being dull. Heck, the MOST interesting characters in the game are Basch and Balthier (the former of which who was SUPPOSED to be the hero) are shoved to the side to make room for Vaan, the flattest and most superfluous FF protagonist ever (seriously, he has NO impact on the plot). The princess also spends most of the game being a whiny brat stamping her feet and I really just wanted her to shut up. The world is pretty and it's nice to explore, but that does little to detract from the issues. Gameplay is also pointless. When the game can play itself there's hardly any reason for a player to be around. It wouldn't be such an issue if the ATB system didn't work so badly with MMO trappings (seriously, at the end of the day it's just poorly done turn-based battle system). The License Board is also a needless complication when they should have just assigned classes to the characters and moved on. Just skip it

XIII - Never gonna play it, but you've probably heard every criticism about it needed anyway.

Tactics - Obviously what FFXII got screwed out of being. Has a rather intriguing dual narrative dealing with political intrigue on one side and religious conspiracy on the other. The main character is a bit flat and a lot of the cast go out of focus, but it's ultimately a great tale. The class system is AWESOME, letting you make some truly broken characters (like a ninja with heavy armor or a knight dual-wielding great swords) and the game has a LOT of side content, especially in the ultimate chapter. Highly recommended. And if you like it I recommend tracking down the remake of Tactics Ogre: Let us Cling Together for the PSP

 

[Atmos Duality]

I'm firmly in the typical hipster camp of FF6 being excellent in spite of its flaws.
Some complain about the huge roster and lack of development. Well, I rather like the varied roster because it adds some replay value and ACTUAL variance in party composition. From FF8 onward (sans FF9), party composition became less important as characters merged into these generic homogenized blobs.

(what's the point of Kimahri Ronso in FFX again? He's about as useless as Red XIII.)

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

Why is that a bad thing? During the game you already know he was driven mad by experiments and when he gets captured the bit of dialogue in the prison has a lot to infer, apart from that he was hilarious but when he did terrible things it had a very disturbing .
The fact that he wasn't even a main antagonist till the middle makes it better because it wasn't all that predictable and it's the classic pawn becomes the master turn.

Because that's all he is; were it not for the twist that he went from comic relief, ineffective antagonist to main villain he would be a footnote. Furthermore, the token "oh he went insane because of experiments" thing is also weak because it doesn't detract from the matter at hand. Sure, Kefka's fun but he's as shallow as a 1-inch puddle.

 

[Lunar Templar]

For me? FFX was the start of the down slide, however, FF10 is still mostly good, but it's sign of things to come really. So pretty much stay away from any single player FFs after 10. Can't really comment on the MMOs though, not played ether of them.

 

[faefrost]

Hey everyone I have a question for all of you.

There's a retro gaming store down the street from where I live and I go there almost all the time. They have a great selection of PSX games and have Final Fantasy I-VI in anthology collections (the first two in a set together, IV with Chrono Trigger, and V and VI together). I have never really played FF before (played the first a bit on an emulator) but have played Chrono Trigger on SNES (a lot of people have compared the two) and immensely enjoyed that. From the bit of the first FF I've played, it was a lot of fun.

However, my understanding is the series has begun to go downhill. I did some research but no one can really agree on when this began. I've heard since XI it's been going downhill but have also read that VIII is when the series began to suck.

I guess what I'm wondering is a few things: 1. Is Final Fantasy a series worth getting into? 2. When would you say the series began to go downhill? 3. If you didn't notice, none of the PSX titles had III. So what would be the best way to experience these games?

With that last one please try to keep in mind, the only systems I have are a SNES, N64, Gamecube, PS2, Gameboy Advance, and a Nintendo DS.

Thanks.

The series underwent a major style change with FF VII. FF I through VI are more classic JRPG's. If you are an old school PC gamer the closest equivalent will be the classic Ultima games. Particularly I - V. Starting with FF VII the FF games switched to the more anime influenced style that it continues with today. If you can get the first 6 games and Chrono Trigger at a good price by all means do it. They are some truly classic game play. And Chrono Trigger is one of the best RPG's ever made.

 

[Wolfenbarg]

They're worth it, to varying degrees. You should try at least one of the more popular titles like IV, VI, VII, or X. They took a nosedive after that. XII could have been a masterpiece if they scaled it back drastically so the pacing was more natural. XIII just isn't worth it at all.

 

[Baldr]

I absolutely hate any FF game, except FFXIII, it is a great game, they took out all the boring stuff I hated from the previous games and made it a much better straight forward game.

 

[DuelLadyS]

You don't have to get into Final Fantasy as a whole. Each game exists almost entirely separately from the others. Feel free to cherry-pick the ones with interesting sounding stories and/or gameplay mechanics, you're not obligated to commit to the whole run.

In every other game there was an underlying theme of some kind. FF4 was about redemption, FF6 was about hope, FF9 was about death, and FF10 was about religion. However I can not tell you what FF13 is about even though I forced myself to complete the game.

I'm pretty sure 13 was supposed to be about family- pretty much every character had some sort of familial connection touched on in the game, and they hit all sorts of different relationships (parents and children, spouses and in-laws, siblings, non-traditional families without blood relations...) It wasn't really executed on very well, but I'm pretty sure that was the idea.

 

[Tom_green_day]

In an ideal universe I'd consider getting into Final Fantasy, but they're on game 15 or something? Really? Because there's no way in hell I'd buy the 15th game in a series without buying the others, and I'm not going to buy those 14 other games just so I can play the new one. I never heard this name mentioned when people complain about a lack of new IPs, but I think the way it's being dragged on is alienating a lot of people like me.

 

[Odbarc]

Final Fantasy 6 is adorably cute, simple to understand the combat mechanics, with one of the best story lines of the series.
Unfortunately, the combat isn't challenging most of the time, the plot is the usual final fantasy trope "save the world" and only the SNES (emulator) version is good. Mainly because the PS1 version is laggy, the DLC version is likely based off the PS port.
The GBA version has but one flaw (no Y button, just X for switching party members. I hate it!) but is otherwise the perfect update/addon to the original.

I mostly agree, but i don't think it's really that acurate to say FF6 was a typical save the world tale, i mean by the 3rd/half way in the story the world is actually destroyed.

I didn't want to spoil it in my suggestion but yeah. Just went the shit hits the fan, you notice a herd of flying cows stampeding out of taco bell in the distance heading right towards your fancy new washed card.
All in all, it really makes Kefka one of the most dangerous villains in Final Fantasy. He actually succeeds. Sephiroth is up too but I'd still say Kefka was greater. Not that I think he could beat Sephiroth in a fight, mind you.

One disappointing thing is that the final fight with Kefka was a little easy. Something like Chrono Trigger with the self reviving heal guy and such would have made the battle actually intimidating. I actually had a worse time fighting Wrexsoul because of Zinger. Imagine if Kefka did that? Mind you, without the Vanish glitch. And/or with Chadarnook battle mechanic.
It was a bit anti-climatic. When Kefka finally pulled out Ultima and it didn't even kill anyone. Lame. He was a poor excuse for a demi-god or anything like it who had infused himself with the powers of the goddesses' three. What's-his-name in the Magic Tower - his ultima was lethal. You mostly had to prepare for it explicitly.



Well, I guess that's what rom hacks are for.

 

[Chaos Isaac]

Depends on your taste, but i'd try 1 and 3 for some simple, fun, class based murderfests that save the world, and then six, seven, eight, nine and 12 for more murder fests but with more story and character.

For the Tactics offspring, i'd with with Tactics Advanced, as the Lion one for the PSP was kinda... pretty... bad. And A2 sucked.

Now, I haven't played five or six, and I played a bit of four and I have no idea how people enjoy it so much. But, I don't hear much of five and six always seemed interesting asides from the villain.

 

[Dr. Octogonopus]

In an ideal universe I'd consider getting into Final Fantasy, but they're on game 15 or something? Really? Because there's no way in hell I'd buy the 15th game in a series without buying the others, and I'm not going to buy those 14 other games just so I can play the new one. I never heard this name mentioned when people complain about a lack of new IPs, but I think the way it's being dragged on is alienating a lot of people like me.

Besides a few skippable sequels/tie-ins you do not need to have any prior knowledge of the series to play any ff game. All games have a separate universe, story, characters and gameplay.

Think James Bond. You dont have to watch every movie or read every book to enjoy Skyfall.

 

[Signa]

Having just played GBA FFV, I think it's worth it if you can tolerate the combat system. JRPGs have a certain flavor that a lot of people do not have patience for. That said, 1-6 all are 2D games, and that makes the lackluster gameplay less painful because there's no loading times or overdone cutscenes to deal with. JRPGs are always about the adventure and story more than the character building (Stat grinding, not character arcs) and action-filled combat.

My advice to you OP is to try Chrono Trigger instead. It goes light on the random battles (almost all battles you can see the enemies before you engage) and has one of the best JRPG stories I've played. If you like the feel of the genre from that game, play any FF to your hearts content.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

You have a point and far be it for comparing two genres of entertainment but again being "shallow" isn't a bad thing. Nolan's Joker is completely Shallow his motivation is simply his character is crazy, that's it, yet he's compelling and interesting. You don't always need a complex villain just a big enough threat that you can't ignore because - for arguments sake - let's say Kefka was a bad/not that good of a villain because he was shallow, would you rather he be Ultimecia? She had the dumbest convoluted reasons to destroy the existence and the way she went about it made absolutely no sense or worse that blue haired git from X who had a similar role to Kefka.

PS. For an example of a Good Shallow villain is that bug thing at the end of Chrono Trigger, it is by no means a character but it has the most interesting premise and concept, it's not actively trying to destroy everything it's just in order to live it does kinda like Galactus in some respect. A Big enough threat that even a villain will unite with the good guys to kill off.

Oh, GAWD, bringing up Nolan's Joker. Ya wanna know WHY Nolan's Joker is so interesting? Because he basically comes off as a slam to people who artificially try to add depth to characters with sloppy, token reasons. The reason the Joker WORKS is because he has has none of those. I actually still maintain to this day that the Joker wasn't human, but instead some sort of force that manifested itself when Batman was created. He has no human traits, he's just a ball of pure Id who lives only for destruction.

Kefka was merely lucky. And furthermore, there's a REASON he's not regarded as highly over in Japan. A LOT of what people claim is great about Kefka is due to Ted Woolsey's liberal translations. Kefka was actually written as REALLY annoying and stupid in the original text. So...yeah, Kefka was still really just an annoying comedy relief villain even after he took up the reins. Oh dear.

 

[Captain Sunshine]

I'm pretty sure 13 was supposed to be about family- pretty much every character had some sort of familial connection touched on in the game, and they hit all sorts of different relationships (parents and children, spouses and in-laws, siblings, non-traditional families without blood relations...) It wasn't really executed on very well, but I'm pretty sure that was the idea.

All that fal'Cie l'Cie le-see lalilulelo stuff made it seem like Fate was a really important theme for it as well, and making your own destiny. That said, didn't play it past the first few hours where they wouldn't stop talking about it, so that might be like saying FF7's theme is accepting your inner cross-dresser.

 

[remnant_phoenix]

I guess what I'm wondering is a few things: 1. Is Final Fantasy a series worth getting into? 2. When would you say the series began to go downhill? 3. If you didn't notice, none of the PSX titles had III. So what would be the best way to experience these games?

With that last one please try to keep in mind, the only systems I have are a SNES, N64, Gamecube, PS2, Gameboy Advance, and a Nintendo DS.

Thanks.

1, 4, and 6 are definitely worth playing. Most fans and non-fans of the series generally agree that those are high-quality old-school JRPGs. For 1, go with the PS1 version. The original NES FF1 was grind-tastic by modern standards. For 4 and 6, the PS1 versions are fine, but there are some annoying load times. I'd go with the GBA ports if you can find them; if not, the PS1 versions are recommended.

I would recommend 7 without reservation. Whether you enjoy it or not, it was a hallmark title for the JRPG genre, for better or for worse. And, whether or not you like 7 is a strong indicator of whether or not you should go forward. 7 is when the series fully embraced the more linear, scripted storytelling, and just putting more emphasis on the storytelling in general (more dialogue, more cutscenes, less challenging gameplay, etc), although it doesn't go as far as 8 (even MORE dialogue/cutscenes than 7), or 10 (more cutscenes/dialogue and extremely linear).

9 is kind of an oddball. It has the story focus of eight, but the gameplay is more like the old-school challenge level. Also, it's a throwback to the old high-fantasy (knights, dragons, castles, etc.) style of the older games as well.

Whether or not you'll enjoy 7-10 is highly dependent on your personal taste, but here's some general rules:

If you like cyberpunk anime with weird, sometimes confusing, plot twists, you'll probably like 7.

If you like shojo manga/anime, you might like 8.

If you like old-school fantasy JRPGs but also don't mind the more dialogue/cutscenes-heavy storytelling approach of newer JRPGs, you'll probably like 9. Also, it's arguably the best-looking PS1 game ever.

If you don't mind extreme linearity and sub-par voice acting, 10 is, in my opinion, possibly the best in terms of battle system and story.

12 incorporates some Western RPGs concepts and is more historical-fiction than fantasy, especially in the beginning, and it plays like an offline MMO. People tend to like it or hate it.

13 sucks. Avoid it.

My personal recommendations are 1, 4, 6, 7, and 10.

EDIT: As for when the series went downhill, I'm gonna say after 10.

Some old-school fans say that 7 was the point where it started to go downhill. As I said above, 7 was where the series began to focus more on linear, epic storytelling with a strong anime influence. A lot of people don't like this, but a lot of others do. This is why 7-10 are very popular, but also very divisive. However, 10 was the last main game that Hironobu Sakaguchi (the original creator of Final Fantasy) had anything to do with, and it shows. 12 was decent, but that's because the guy who made Final Fantasy Tactics was in charge of it for a while; while decent, it lacked the magic that made earlier games what they were. 13 is soulless and vapid and really starts to show that the people who made Final Fantasy what it was (like Sakaguchi) are long-gone.

Despite this, I actually have high hopes for 15. Tetsuya Nomura (the guy behind Kingdom Hearts and had a strong hand in FF7) is the leader of that game's development, and he is one of the few talented people that Final Fantasy has left.

 

[BlackJimmy]

Final Fantasy's III & IV have updated rereleases for DS, so get those versions.
V & VI have GBA updates so get them.
I & II have PSP updates so I'd reccomend trying to get one on the cheap. If that's not an option, get the Dawn of Souls rerelease.

I wouldn't say it's going downhill. It's never really gotten a terrible game in the main franchise, with it's worst being merely enjoyable.

VII, VIII and IX are my personal favs.