I've had a bit of downtime lately and have decided to finally get around to playing with JRPG's I haven't gotten around to. I have Final Fantasy 9 and Final Fantasy 10 sitting on my shelf, never having been touched. I've heard good things about both of these game, and they are the last Final Fantasy games in the series that I haven't played yet and that I care about(I've played and beaten the first 7 and Tactics). I have 8 as well, but that's kind of dead last on my list, and none of the games after 10 sound like I would like them.
Yeah, I realize I'm a bit late to the party on this one, but I've only had a PS3 for a little while and have been working through the shorter games first.
Now, 9 is my favorite game in the series, but play 10. Everyone knows IX is amazing, but X gets a lot of undeserved flak, and you should check it out so you can see why those people are wrong. Tidus is the most relatable and human protagonist in the entire series, the combat kicks ass, and there's an insane amount of side content.
Both are worthwhile. X is my personal favourite of the series, but some of the complaints about it are valid (though not the main one), and on repeat playthroughs I really noticed the unskippability of cutscenes early on.
9 has a lot of references to earlier games in the series you might not get, but both are good at easing beginners into the series.
I've not played IX, am playing X at the moment and it's OK...
But the correct answer to this is VI. By a million miles the best Final Fantasy game in existence.
Failing that give Chrono Trigger a go. One of the best JRPGs of all time. Secret of Mana is supposed to be good as well, although I never really got into it (turns out the SNES was a great platform for solid RPGs).
If you wanted something more recent, Ni No Kuni!!!!!
Well, 9 is one of the few games in the series I didn't finish just from losing interest so my vote goes to 10.
Although it is worth noting that 10 has quite a few differences to earlier games in terms of the world layout and battle system whereas 9 is very much in the style of a classic FF game. Not sure if that will sway your decision but I thought I'd mention it.
I've not played IX, am playing X at the moment and it's OK...
But the correct answer to this is VI. By a million miles the best Final Fantasy game in existence.
Failing that give Chrono Trigger a go. One of the best JRPGs of all time. Secret of Mana is supposed to be good as well, although I never really got into it (turns out the SNES was a great platform for solid RPGs).
If you wanted something more recent, Ni No Kuni!!!!!
Already played 6, Chrono Trigger and Secret of Mana. And While I'm always up for replaying CT or 6(SoM was okay), I want to play through one of the ones I haven't touched yet.
Play them both. They're both really good, but for different reasons.
FFIX has probably the best story in the series. It's a deep plot that delves into everything from loyalty and self-discovery to mortality and alienation. It has some of the most well-written characters in all of gaming, with one of the all-time greatest RPG villains (Kuja), due to his complex backstory and surprisingly sympathetic motivation. However, the gameplay has some... issues. The game is very much on the easy side overall, most of the side-quests outright demand a guide to figure out (and the official guidebook is terrible), and the Trance system (which replaces Limit Breaks) is a pile of bullshit.
By contrast, FFX has a story that I would call a good story told rather poorly. The overall concept is interesting, and it goes to some cool places, but none of the characters are as deep as those in some of the previous games, and certain plot points are really stupid. However, its combat system is one of my favorites out of every RPG ever made. Fights move quickly. Everything's fast and dynamic. Each character has their individual specialties, such as Tidus's ability to hit nimble foes more easily, or Wakka's ranged attacks being suited for taking out flying enemies, and you can swap out your characters at any time to better deal with the situation at hand. You can see the exact order in which everyone will act, allowing you to more easily plan your turns. You can (starting a little ways into the game) customize your weapons to an extent, so as to make each character better fit into your personal play-style. The Sphere Grid, which is present in place of a traditional leveling system, is a bit counter-intuitive at first, but once you figure out how it works, it has a surprising amount of depth to it and allows for even further customization of each character.
TL;DR: I personally love both games, but if you can only play one, do you prefer story or gameplay? If story is more important, play IX. If gameplay is more important, play X.
TL;DR: I personally love both games, but if you can only play one, do you prefer story or gameplay? If story is more important, play IX. If gameplay is more important, play X.
I plan to play them both,but since JRPG's always tend to take about 40-50 hours for me to finish(CT might have taken less), I guess "Which one to play first?" would have been a better question.
Story and gameplay are both important to me, but it's harder to find games with great stories then great gameplay, so I would have to say that story is a higher priority for me here.
I consider FF 9 to be one of the best FF games from the PS1 era. I never played FF X though, but I thought FF 9 had a wonderful cast of characters, interesting story, and good play(Despite me disliking turn based games, it was still functional). Like FF 7 the game hasn't aged well though, but I think you might still have fun if still like the old PS1 FF games.
For me, the 16 bit era was pretty much the high point of JRPG's, since my favorite JRPG's are CT, FF6 and FF5(with FF4 lagging behind a little). I did like FF7 but never played FF8(though I loved the wonderful mess that Xenogears turned out to be).
Only play 10 if you have a high tolerance for stupidity. I don't, and couldn't complete it. Tidus and most of the other party members are complete fuckwits, and the story isn't particularly well written. Still, the battle system works well and combat is fun, so it's not complete trash.
FF IX is closer to old-school Final Fantasy, from what I understand. I've never actually played it (I couldn't stand the art style), but the game plays more like a traditional FF game.
I cast my vote for IX, because fuck everyone in X who isn't Auron.
I haven't completed IX yet, so the only thing that I can say is that I am interested in it enought to wish to start again.
Part X, however, is one of my favourites. I loved everything about it. But first, bad things about it:
-The main character looks like a fashion designer's nightmare.
-Your blue mage is mostly useless since blue magic is a limit break now, so you have to waste your precious meter to cast fire breath.
-Some of the things you'll have to do to get ultimate weapons are completely bananas (but they are worth it).
With that being said, I think that this is one of the best FF's. It surely isn't VI, but it is MY personal favourite.
The story is at the very least interesting. It suffers a bit from throwing unknown words at you, but their meaning is quickly explained, so it's fine.
The characters are likable. Even Kimahri, who was on the blander side of the cast, I personally found likable in a silent guardian kind of way. Heck, even those who dislike FFX like Auron. Besides, the second protagonist of the game, Yuna, is one of my favourite and (IMO) better ladies of gaming world.
Blitzball, your main mini-game, is a lot of fun.
As you fight through battle, you'll learn other ways to gain Overdrive (i.e. Limit Break) meter. Everyone starts in Stoic mode, which makes you get meter when you are damaged. However, after hitting a certain ammount of enemies, you'll be able to switch to Warror mode, which allows you to gain meter for dealing damage to enemies. There are a lot of them and can't remember even quarter of them.
The leveling up system is rather flexible, since it allow you to quickly change the way your character progresses. From what I know, speedrunners tend to turn Yuna from healer to black mage right off the bat since she has great magic stat.
Also, there are 2 main things that people who don't like FFX point out and I'd like to adress them:
- Tidus (the MC) being arrogant and whiny. His father always told him that he is worthless, that he is a crybaby who will never achieve anything. His mother barely even cared about him because she always had her eyes on her husband. Later, daddy dissapeared and mommy died of sadness (I am not joking). So when he not only became a player in his fathers team, but became a star player, or course it hit his damn head. But during the course of the game, he develops (as characters supposed to do) into a better person.
- The laughing scene. Look, it was SUPPOSED to sound dumb. He was acting like an idiot to cheer up the person he loved (who, as we later find out, was *SPOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOILERRRRRR* basically walking the path of a martyr and always had her death on her mind *SPOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOILERRRRRR*). Don't know about you, but I will wear a fucking clown costume and act like a loon if it makes my ladyfriend feel better during hard times.
Overall, the game is IMO great and is worth playing.
I'd say start with 9. It does had the best story and characters of the series. It's also arguably the last true Final Fantasy. Once you hit 10 and beyond, say goodbye to the freely explorable world map and many other FF staples (ATB, the typical summon mechanics and creatures, Uematsu soundtrack) that might pop back up in spin offs.
IX also has Chocobo Hot and Cold, a great and addicting mini game you can play as the story goes along to get some rare equipment early, and synth shops, where you can get a lot of good gear by combining old items. X has Blitzball, which you will either like spending an extra 20 hours to reap the rewards or omniloathe, and the gear customizing ability comes a little later than I'd like it to have.
Just about the only things X has over IX are Auron, an art style that doesn't turn as many people off, and a plot with so much idiot ball holding that you would think the characters are throwing it at each others' heads, to the point the blows are killing the last few brain cells they have left. (X's plot will have you swapping between facepalming and grabbing the popcorn, is what I'm saying.) X also lets you customize your characters, but only after you have most of the story done or grind for wayyyyy to long. IX locks every party member to a specific role for the entire game.
It's kind of a shame the characters became flanderized in X-2 because it totally ballses up the story they're trying to tell. Which is interesting, "what happens after saving the world"? Especially when saving the world involved
toppling the religious regime everyone clung to
Combat system was bitchin' though, I really enjoyed the combat system. I'm actually expecting that X-2s ATB combat is what they're going to do to FF7 HD. Good fucking luck trying to 100% that game without a guide though, its got crazy levels of "talk to random dude at random point in area you would never think to look in the first place, let alone come back to" and Chekovs item. Or just randomly pressing X in 3 cinematics at very specific points with no hint that you should do so for the true ending.
OT: FF9 is a celebratory game in the sense that it's a smorgasbord of tropes and elements from the previous 8 games and also a return to pure fantasy after 7/8s sci fi settings. But it's so much more than that, environments are really meaty and fun/rewarding to explore, the story is excellent, characters are deep and it's genuinely moving. It also keeps moving, there's breathing moments, but it's paced very well, there's never any moments where you feel like you're dicking about to pad the run time. It knows how to move from an upbeat tone into somber moments, then back again. Everyone has an arc that makes sense and moves them to somewhere different to where they began. It questions love, loyalty, who we are in the universe, family, friends and existentialism. Combat is a little slow but it does have a lot of cool elements (limit break being better than Trance non withstanding) and has character progression that is akin to the tactics games. It's one of my favourites in the series by far.
On FFX, I'm going to agree with Kotaro in that it's a good story sometimes told poorly. And I'll defend Tidus while I'm at it. Regardless of whether or not you liked him as a character, he is a good character. Everything about him is designed perfectly. From his outfit to his actions to his voice. His outfit is /supposed/ to look fucking stupid. It's supposed to reflect the decadence and superfluousness of his Zanarkand and make him look out of place against the rest of the cast. Even though Wakka wears his Blitzball outfit, it's very muted and more uniform against Tidus' outfit, to further reinforce the idea that even though Blitzball is his one link on Spira, it's not /his/ Spira.
He's supposed to come off as a little naive and whiny, because of course he is due to his backstory and cushy lifestyle, but he's also not stupid. He has to be the one to get the ball rolling because he's got no attachment to the world he's in and has the outsider perspective that lets him go poking around ironically without seeming out of place, despite the fact that he is out of place, his poking around when noone else will ties in to the themes of the world. He also works excellently as an audience surrogate allowing for exposition without it feeling clunky or the main character not knowing the most basic things about the world he's in.
asdfen said:
FFX is a straight coridor till the end game which takes forever to get to
It's not that bad. Granted there's no world map, but you can deviate from the path and explore and the game doesn't smack you upside the head for doing so. Its a linear path in that you do eventually have to go one way, but it's still got big maps to explore and does have things to distract you along the way. It also discounts FF13, which really WAS a corridor.
Hairless Mammoth said:
Once you hit 10 and beyond, say goodbye to the freely explorable world map and many other FF staples ( Uematsu soundtrack) .
Uematsu did the FFX soundtrack; It wasn't him alone, but he was still there and he did about 75% of the tunes. At any rate FFX still has an excellent soundtrack. To Zanarkand, Someday the Dream Will End, Yunas Theme, A truth revealed, Jecht and Aurons theme, Hymn of the Fayth being some of the standout tracks. Heck even "Suteki Da Ne"is tolerable (Xs version of Eyes on You and Melodies of Life"), but that could just be because I can't understand the lyrics. The song itself is infinitely less cheesy though.
I'd say start with 9. It does had the best story and characters of the series. It's also arguably the last true Final Fantasy. Once you hit 10 and beyond, say goodbye to the freely explorable world map and many other FF staples (ATB, the typical summon mechanics and creatures, Uematsu soundtrack) that might pop back up in spin offs.
I'd say start with 9. It does had the best story and characters of the series. It's also arguably the last true Final Fantasy. Once you hit 10 and beyond, say goodbye to the freely explorable world map and many other FF staples (ATB, the typical summon mechanics and creatures, Uematsu soundtrack) that might pop back up in spin offs.
Yeah, you can't really go wrong with either. They're both good games.
That being said, I think the combat is just a little bit better in X (IX is ATB, X is turn-based, but with more strategy than usual and status spells that are actually good for something). At the moment, if I had to replay one, I'd probably pick X. But if you asked me next week, I might pick IX. Like I said, they're both really good, if you like the genre.
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