Trishbot said:
KazeAizen said:
james.sponge said:
KazeAizen said:
Trishbot said:
Sounds like Bravely Default is going to be the best Final Fantasy game this year.
Is there some arbitrary standard for Final Fantasy games that I am not aware of?
Yes, and the standard died with FFX-2.
Please show me this arbitrary and convoluted standard for Final Fantasy games. I'd really like to see a solid graph or chart that has a list of them with a base line for what qualifies and what doesn't. You show me that.
SNIPPITY SNIP
O.. Oh dear.. Your nostalgia goggles are *really* affecting you. Badly.
Firstly, SD character designs as A PRO? Yeah, you really are fuelled by nostalgia and it's hilarious. Lightning Returns *has* plenty of classes. Dragoon, Red Mage, Black Mage, Thief. They're practically all there. Even rather close to their
original designs!
It should also be noted that this
is not a mainstream-numbered Final Fantasy title. It is a spin-off/sequel. The Final Fantasy series has
plenty of sequels, or are we forgetting FFIV's After Years, XII's Revenant Wings, VII's prequels Before Crisis and Crisis Core, sequel Dirge of Cerberus.. The Final Fantasy series does
not have to conform to any specific archaic formula. That's.. Kind of the point of each Roman numeral game in the series. They *all* change. They *all* modify, adapt and experiment with new things. Nobody is forcing anyone to like
literally every single FF title. They're not all made to your specifications.
And now, to the whole "medieval" debate. The definition of "fantasy" implies lack of realism. Last I checked, using magic is not realism, fighting monsters is not realism. Fun Fact: Science Fiction is a sub-genre of Fantasy. Books are often in sections entitled "Science Fiction/Fantasy" for damn good reason.
Another point on the medieval thing. I
loved Final Fantasy IX. Loved. Lovedlovedlovedloved. *Adored* it. So much. But here's the thing. Medieval fantasy gets
old. Fast. Sure, Bravely Default (if you want medieval fantasy from Square, that's going to be it, it's rather likely it'll become its own series) is incredible and all that, but there are
plenty of people who haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate medieval fantasy. Final Fantasy
had to move on. It had to adapt and change, do more than just medieval. It was, in fact, a major complaint several years ago. People got sick and tired of medieval Final Fantasy games, so things changed. Don't like it? Simple solution, don't bloody play them! They're not made for you! Others will, and as been evidenced in this thread on page 1 early on, many started from IX and continued to enjoy the future titles. That is not a bad thing. They are merely
different games. There is zero "standard to achieve". Fun Fact: FFVIII and FFIX were developed *at the exact same time*. Two entirely different teams within Squaresoft, with mostly the same lead staff overseeing both. They're
entirely different games. Not made for the same people. Stop acting like your sole opinion is the one true way.
I also
thoroughly enjoy FFXIII and love the universe and established lore (sadly, FFXIII-2 royally screwed that up by retcon'ing a ton of it), Bhunivelze wasn't exactly *real*, the fal'Cie simply worshipped him as a god (not the humans), who took care of humans and whatever, but the fal'Cie were literally just preparing to sacrifice all the humans just to bring back The Maker (Bhunivelze). Because of the whole "fal'Cie made Cocoon, made of Pulsian earth" and the lies and backstabbing they were doing (y'know, with that whole Purge thing, telling Cocoon citizens that The Purge would banish "tained humans" to the lowerworld of Pulse, but instead they just.. Murdered them.) Additionally, Yeul was never some immortal time being, she was merely a sermon-speaker back in the early Pulsian civilization. XIII-2's "paradoxes" corrupted all that (and yes, I
do think it was a stupid sudden change). Also, Etro was a goddess with zero powers, she was banished to The Unseen Realm (Valhalla) (stated in Analects in FFXIII) and stripped of her powers. Yet suddenly, in XIII-2, she has powers has blesses Lightning as some protector. Let's not forget, the key main characters in XIII were *always* Fang & Vanille. It was
their story. And it's incredibly deep, yet sadly not explored much more until late in the game.. Lightning is the Tidus and Vaan of XIII. X's lead was all about Yuna, XII was *all* about Ashe/Basch and, to a lesser extent, Balthier.
Full disclosure; I don't love every FF game. I never got into XII, really. I
despise FFII (not IV, II. The one with the absolutely ridiculous stat progression "system" where hitting your party members was the only way to increase HP/stamina, etc), thank *Christ* recent FF titles have done away with levels and grinding (another "feature" that plenty of people thoroughly despised and complained about.. Which is it? Complain that JRPGs are all about grinding or complain about the JRPGs that *specifically don't feature grinding*.. Make up yo' damn minds..)
KazeAizen said:
james.sponge said:
KazeAizen said:
Trishbot said:
Sounds like Bravely Default is going to be the best Final Fantasy game this year.
Is there some arbitrary standard for Final Fantasy games that I am not aware of?
Yes, and the standard died with FFX-2.
Please show me this arbitrary and convoluted standard for Final Fantasy games. I'd really like to see a solid graph or chart that has a list of them with a base line for what qualifies and what doesn't. You show me that.
I approve and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
Nailed it.
EDIT: Oh, another thing I should probably add. This misguided notion that Sakaguchi was the sole being that masterminded ten FF titles. No. He almost literally just named the thing. The
real developers behind the series have been Hiroyuki Ito (the man who designed the freakin' ATB system in the first place!), Yoshinori Kitase (who has been a rather prominent scenario writer since VI-VII.) and Tetsuya Nomura (more behind the scenes until VI, when he more of a design role, the lead character designer and scenario contributor in VII, staying on as lead character designer for every character since (including the XIII games), he also has lead director role for Final Fantasy XV, which is a role he hasn't done much in since VII (Kitase was lead for VII, but Nomura was definitely a big contributor, which lead to him leading Kingdom Hearts). It really helps to actually have your facts straight, rather than blindly swinging your arms around without facts to back it up, just your biased opinion about what you
assume is "the best Final Fantasy". You aren't the judge of that, neither am I. Don't pretend to be.
Alternatively, look up the Ultimania Omega guides. Yes, they're Japanese-only, but there are fan-translations, and there are a ton of developer interviews and further background about in-game lore.