What is wrong with the Final Fantasty series?

[dreadedcandiru99]

Final Fantasy is rapidly approaching a singularity of prettiness and batshit writing. I theorize that by number 17, the game will literally be about a crystal dreaming a timesong into existence in the form of a planet-sized space-station/tortoise. The villain of the game will be Newtonian physics itself.

And the protagonist will be a pile of belts that have achieved sentience. Or at least enough sentience to wangst about things.

Personally, my biggest gripe with Final Fantasy is pretty much the same issue I have with JRPGs in general. In short: they're not RPGs. There is no role-playing. Your actions have no impact on the story.

 

[Lunar Templar]

o.o what ....

i was expecting something far more long winded. anyway!

'whats wrong' with FF is a number of things, writing being the biggest problem it has of late. yes there's the questionable outfits, but it's a Japanese game, its normal for them, move along, its the writing that's the real issue.

last couple FF games i've played (12 and 13) the story was dull, giving no real motivation for me to care why 'bad things where happening'. i mean in 12 there was a LONG SLOW period, where nothing really interesting happened, for like 2 or 3 hours, after what was a pretty bad ass intro area. 13 has a similar issue, cept it skips the 'bad ass intro' part and goes straight to 'nothing really happening', sure things explode and there's a big battle going on, but you never really see it, even as a back ground thing unless its one of the 100 or so cut scenes you get between pressing start and getting inside the floating building thing.

the characters don't help ether, Vann has no reason to exist at all, nor dose Penelo, 13s cast of even worse, Lightning is to much a ***** for me to care her sister gets turned into a crystal, Snow seems to be from another, possibly more interesting game, Hope has no reason to exist, Vanille while the least annoying of the lot, feels like they where trying to hard to remake Rikku for FF10, Chaz being the only black guy,for the sake of having a black guy, is its own special form of racism (seirusly, having only ONE ethnically different person in the entire game is bullshit)

though i feel a lot of these problems steam from how far square is pushing the graphics, they're spending entirely to much time and money on making it look pretty instead of making a good story, which as RPGs, is a death sentence, story might not matter in games like God of War, Halo, Gears of War, or Devil May Cry, (although a few of those actually do have decent lore behind them) but in RPGs, if the story sucks, there's almost never any compelling game play to save it, and this is where Square has been failing since FF9, arguably 10 (i liked most of 10, even if Tidus dose kinda have Vanns problem of not really needing to exist)

 

[John Farrell]

A few weeks ago, on one of the forums I frequent, I posted my top 7 things I hate about Final Fantasy 7. #6 on that list (just above my petty hatred of Ruby and Emerald weapons) was the cgi. Now, the cgi in 7 was good. They focused on the important scenes, the ones that we burned into our memories. The reason I posted it was that 7 showed cgi in such a positive light, it lead to other RPG's to have a crippling addiction to it. Oh, the scenery looks nice, and the cutscenes are over the top. Square began sacrificing gameplay to get the player to see these quicker, like the writers and designers would throw a big hissy fit if gamers rather played the game than see their art.

For the record:
#7 Ruby and Emerald Weapon (Never could beat them)
#6 Glamorization of CGI Usage
#5 Cait Sith (No explanation)
#4 Hojo (Too cartoony and how he is often overlooked)
#3 Lack of a Class System (I.E. Party members too interchangeable.
#2 The Prequels and Sequels
#1 Sephiroth is a LAME VILLAIN (all style, no substance.)

Bonus: No Jenova boss-fight where it shape-shifts into Aerith (based on Jenova's past history)

 

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

In short, I think it can be best summed up as: Too much graphical polish, not enough substance.

However, this is my complaint against games in general.

 

[KeyMaster45]

The series needs to start taking itself less seriously and get some better writers, because as it is at the moment, it's like a cheesy Japanese soap opera.

That's not necessarily a bad thing, the game industry needs it's own soap opera series for us to make fun of. If Squeenix wants to fill that void, who are we to stop them from producing their own All My Circuits series.

 

[Toy Yota]

What is wrong with the series is Final Fantasy 9 which was released twelve years ago was the last good game of the franchise. 10, 10-2, 11, 12, 13, 13-2, and 14 have all been complete shit with 10-2 being a strong contender fro worst game ever.

:/ I'd say that the last good game was Final Fantasy X.

 

[Xanthious]

Well take a look at everything after Final Fantasy X. That's what is wrong with the Final Fantasy series. I think more specifically Final Fantasy has strayed too far from what made it good once upon a time.

 

[Burst6]

I think i can give 3 better reasons

1) the stories are getting more and more convoluted and annoying. I played 13 and they made up a LOT of words. That's not a good sign. It makes things hard to remember. I could follow along what was happening with 13, but there were very few memorable parts. You remember NORA? How they were supposed to be snow's best friends? Remember how they just up and vanish for most of the game? When they came back near the end i forgot who they were. In fact i found it very hard to remember most characters outside of the main cast.

2) The characters are getting less likeable. A lot of people didn't like Rikku in final fantasty X because she was a bit too bubbly, and then came Vanille. The only character i liked in 13 was Sazh. His backstory, personality, and troubles were explained well enough and even through he had a troubled backstory he handled himself well.

A little bit off topic but did anyone else feel insulted when they saw Sazh's summon vehicle? He's the best character in the game and they gave him what amounts to a gag.

3) The combat is getting way too distant. It's what put me off of playing 12, the strategy is slowly draining out of the game. It didn't have that much strategy to start with either. Not being able to control all your characters cut the interaction in the game by a third. It feels like combat is made to be a pretty distraction. I'm also struggling to find out why they cut down the characters in your main party to 3. I know they've been doing that since 7 but i assumed that was a technical thing. It worked pretty well in 9.


I wanted to play 13-2, but when they started talking about 13 i couldn't remember a thing. The combat really put me off because it felt so slow and i spent way too much time looking at flashy things. I got bored and went to play a nice ARPG.

 

[newdarkcloud]

I think the problem with Final Fantasy is that it ate into its own hype. It assumed the reason people keep coming back were the top of the line graphics they are known for, when instead it was the experience, diverse stories and interesting characters we came to love the compelled us to buy each new game in the franchise. You can tell the focus on graphics hurt XIII in a major way. The past few installments have been drifting from that.

 

[ilexuki]

What is wrong with the series is Final Fantasy 9 which was released twelve years ago was the last good game of the franchise. 10, 10-2, 11, 12, 13, 13-2, and 14 have all been complete shit with 10-2 being a strong contender fro worst game ever.

10 is a good game, i think a lot of people hate on it cause it marks the change in final fantasy. they did away with a lot of the staples that gamers had come to enjoy in final fantasy games, and it was a lot more linear than what fans were used to. still, it was a good game, it had fun characters and good battle system.

final fantasy 11 is another game fans seem to like to hate on, cause they never played it or simply cause it's a mmo. i've played 11 since it came out on the ps2 in NA ,and i'm sure any other ff11 vet will tell you, that ffxi has earned it's final fantasy title, and is probably more worthy of the title than any of the games that came after it.

on topic:

i think SE has been trying too hard, and failing miserably at telling more mature stories as opposed to simple stories of random chosen hero gains magic powers and stops baddie of the week.

before, rpgs could get away with half ass stories. there was a large world map to explore, all kinds of sidequests,secrets and optional bosses to cover up the flaws of the main story. once you start cutting out that content all the plotholes and bad writing starts getting exposed.

this is why the tales games do good. they are the most generic of the generic, but they have an engaging battle system and lots of content.

so, SE either needs to try harder and get better writers and directors, or cut the linear shit and fill the game with enough content that noone cares about the story.... like what bethesda does.

 

[Infernai]

Sorry to seem a bit nit-picky but....well, i gotta nit-pick a bit.

#7 Ruby and Emerald Weapon (Never could beat them)

Soo...one of the reasons you hate this game is because of two very difficult bosses that were not only SUPPOSED to be difficult but were entirely optional? Huh....Ok then....

#6 Glamorization of CGI Usage

Honestly, the CG-I wasn't that overbearing in seven. Admittedly, you did explain this one a bit more above but it still bears mentioning that the CG-I wasn't used all that Much for this game.

#5 Cait Sith (No explanation)

Not arguing with this one because, quite frankly, you're right.

#4 Hojo (Too cartoony and how he is often overlooked)

Well, Hojo worked a bit better as a back-ground villain. Arguably, 90% of all the terrible things that happen throughout both the story and the events of the characters backstories can more or less be traced back to this guy and his god complex. He honestly worked well as a back-ground villain because he really doesn't work that well when put in the main spot-light.

(For clarification on what i mean by that, please refer to Dirge of Cerberus)

#3 Lack of a Class System (I.E. Party members too interchangeable.

Honestly, did it really need a class system? We had the Materia system in it's place, which allowed for you to customize arguably all the abilities outside limit breaks. Not only that, but it directly affected stats as well so it meant you had to adjust play-styles of certain characters depending on what Materia you equipped them with.

#2 The Prequels and Sequels

Admittedly, you're half-right with this one. I understand the milking of this entry is quite annoying and got very very tiresome. That said, we got some good things out of it: Crisis Core definitely cleared up a few discrepancies and also helped to add a bit more depth to some characters from the original. Advent Children was also quite good in my opinion, although i seem to be rather alone on that one. Dirge of Cerberus was absolutely terrible, and i swear was made because some poor bastard promised his 13 year old to make a game out of their fanfic...

So yeah, i half agree.

#1 Sephiroth is a LAME VILLAIN (all style, no substance.)

Sephiroth admittedly isn't that great a villain but..he's still a rather good character. Crisis Core actually helped alot with Sephiroth i think: Originally, he was a SOLDIER who was raised by the corporation of Shinra. He wasn't always some 'MOTHER! LETS BLOW PLANET UP NOW!' guy. He was...actually a half decent guy. Serious and rather aloof at times, sure, but he wasn't about to just stab his best friends in the back. Then we have his two best friends, who he had known for arguably his entire shinra career, betray his company and arguably him and he is forced to help not only hunt them down but to kill them.

This, combined with a few cryptic hints that there is more to his past take a pretty big toll on the guy and he decides to just quit Shinra once he undertakes one last mission: Nibelheim. And that's where he finds out about Jenova, the woman Shinra had through his whole life told him was his mother, was an 'ancient' and that he himself was created by shinra. This, combined with the previously mentioned issues with his best friends causes the guy to naturally snap and completely lose his mind.

He did admittedly have some presence and wasn't that bad of a villain at all, but he wasn't exactly a GREAT villain either and i understand he's become incredibly over-used by Enix as well as being built up by his fanbase as being this 'nigh invincible threat'. When in truth, he isn't: He's just a skilled soldier who, after one to many bad revelations and events, just lost his mind.

So yeah: A good character and an Ok villain, but he was definitely heavily over-rated later on by the fan-base and isn't as threatening or 'villainous' as some of the other series' antagonists.

Bonus: No Jenova boss-fight where it shape-shifts into Aerith (based on Jenova's past history)

If you don't mind me asking: What's the point? She's already dead, the cast knows it as they saw her get skewered and i'm sure they wouldn't be fooled for a second into thinking it was her.
At best, it'd make Cloud a bit unnerved but i'm pretty sure the party would just end up killing her again anyway regardless because..well, it isn't Aerith and they bloody well know it.

 

[Arkynomicon]

How about trying to bring some new ideas to the table instead of riding on that former FF7 glory? They even admitted themselves that they thought that was the peak.

 

[Sheo_Dagana]

Obvious troll topic is obvious. There is a lot wrong with the series, but none of OP's complaints apply.

What is wrong with the series is Final Fantasy 9 which was released twelve years ago was the last good game of the franchise. 10, 10-2, 11, 12, 13, 13-2, and 14 have all been complete shit with 10-2 being a strong contender fro worst game ever.

:/ I'd say that the last good game was Final Fantasy X.

God awful annoying characters, a plot that is so fucking idiotic, Tidus, plot holes, characters so annoying they give me migraines, the easiest combat of the series, and of course the bad characters. Only by the grace (or lack thereof) of 10-2 and 13 is 10 not the worst of the entire series.
I regret playing that game so much I'd gladly sell the soul of my first born son to get back the amount of time wasted back from playing that shit.

Seriously if you have not already find and watch Spoony's videos on Final Fantasy 10. They sum up why the game is shit quite effectively and in a much more entertaining way than I can.

Spoony also said that 8 was shit and that 7 was shit (in his review of 8). 10 happens to be one of my favorite entries into the series (but I still laugh at Spoony's review), and the last one I enjoyed playing as well. Don't sell your opinion as fact, especially if you're unable to articulate it to the point that you refer people to someone else's review in order to state your stance on a matter.

The truth is that every Final Fantasy game has flaws and quirks. That's why everyone argues over which one is the best and which is the worst.

 

[Luca72]

People complain about XII, but I thought it was actually pretty good. I felt like I had more of an idea of WHY I was doing things than usual. Problem is, the developers admitted that the main character was supposed to be Basch - you know, the experienced soldier who was wrongfully framed for murder of a king and reviled by his entire country? Sounds like an interesting guy. No wait, didn't test well enough with young male Japanese gamers, so they threw in Vaan and Penelo at the last minute.

See, no one remembers the little moments in Final Fantasy, even though they're what build the series. I loved the little details in the background of games like VI and VII that made the world come alive. Both of them had settings ripped from other sources, but there was a lot of humor to it as well. That's why I think Midgar is one of the best "settings" I've ever seen in a game - it was bursting with personality and didn't take itself too seriously.
Unfortunately, what people remember is the same stuff that makes it to the trailers. Cloud on a motorcycle. A cannon the size of a city shooting godzilla. An airship fight with Sin. Tidus and Yuna getting their mack on underwater surrounded by glowing bugs and breathable liquid - actually, I'm still not sure what was going on there.

Point is, Final Fantasy now has built certain expectations, and feels like it has to meet them without context. FFXIII is a perfect example - look at the introduction to that game, and try to explain what the fuck is happening. I don't mean look online, or read the manual, or tell me what I'm missing because you've played it before. There doesn't seem to be any reason for anything you're doing, but you're expected to go through it because it's big and flashy.

At least FFVII said you're a terrorist with a huge sword and you should just live with it.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

I havnt played 11 and 12. But they slowly got worse for me from 7 to 10. 13 was blah, and 13-2 pissed me off when i realised there were no summonses eg Ifrit etc. I never finished 13 so that game could have explained why there are none. But still, they are slowly destroying what was a world class series because they are to afraid to change things apart from making fighting worse and hair colours. Or maybe most gamers have lost that excitement that a new FF made them feel and now just dont give a crap about FF any more?