What is wrong with the Final Fantasty series?

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

In addition to my previous post, I will say that the only part I enjoy about the Final Fantasies after 9 is the music.

 

[Odbarc]

The #1 problem with FF is that it has become entirely a "FAN SERVICE" game. It's not about telling a story anymore. It's not about fun battle mechanics. It's about having characters look stupid as hell for people to cosplay and nothing else!!!
NOTHING! ELSE!

And that is why we are hating FF.

I'm not linking any images, but seriously, look how different they look in FF10 and on and everything beforehand.
1~9, everything is medieval western/armor (except 8, but 8 had them dress rather normal).
From 10, they all suddenly dress the stupidest outfits.
I think the spoony experiment rants about it for a couple of minutes.
The one ***** has a bikini, shoulder-pads and a corset with some belts on her arms and sunglasses. And she's the most sensibly dressed one in the group.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Can we stop "improving" Final Fantasy with bad/irrelevant ideas that don't actually address the problems that games currently have?

 

[Sheo_Dagana]

Spoony's reviews yes are usually wrong admittedly. But he was correct in his reviews of 10 and 10-2. Sad but as the saying goes "even a broke clock is right twice a day". Those reviews were his 2 times @ being right.

There you go again, selling your opinion as fact. His reviews really only focus on the negative. If I did that, I could make people think 6 is shit, too. 10-2 is aweful, but so are any of the sequel games, like Dirge of Cerberus, 13-2, and Crisis Core, despite a strong story, just wasn't fun to play.

I will agree with you, however, that there are times when the general populace can be completely right about something. Just because a vast number of people hate 10-2 doesn't mean that it's misunderstood. Most people just hate it because they think it's garbage after having played it, and I am perfectly inclined to agree with that opinion.

 

[Sangreal Gothcraft]

Yours points are quite silly really, But what can i contribute i stopped caring about the final fantasy series a LOOOONNNNGGGGGG time ago

 

[Sean Hollyman]

I see no problem in it, though I've only played about 3 FF games so I don't really have an informed opinion on the rest.

Anyway:

 

[The Abhorrent]

There's quite a few issues with the series, but I think the main one is that the series is struggling to "update" itself into the modern era. Each game has strayed in various ways, and they haven't been able to quite nail the magic which the series used to have. To look at the games from FFXII onward, here's a few of the problems:

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Final Fantasy XII
One of the first attempts to re-imagine the series, the problem here is a mix between such a large departure from the series' old combat systems (leading to a somewhat steeo learning curve) and lousy pacing. While this game has loads of content, the drive for the central story is extremely lacking; combined with the gameplay shift which forced even veteran FF players to take their time learning how to play, they quickly grew disinterested before the game could show it's better side.

Final Fantasy XIII
Almost a response from FFXII's "too much at once" and overly expansive take on the series, the issue with this game is actually it's extreme linearity (hallways throughout); and while the story at least has decent pacing this time around, the gameplay pacing is a trainwreck. The combat system is actually quite good... once it opens up. You don't get a taste until you've hit the 3-4 hour mark, and it doesn't fully open up until the 20 hour mark; again, players grew bored and frustrated long before the game's better side came forth. Vanille's alienating insanity did not help players get past this hurdle either, and the rest of the cast didn't quite get a warm reception either.

Final Fantasy XIII-2
Another response to the previous game's issues, at least FFXIII-2 moves in the right direction and doesn't over-correct them. Gone are the extreme linearity and the unnecessary wait before the gameplay opens up; levels have some breadth to them (allowing some exploration) and you have all the core gameplay mechanics within the first two hours. But there are other problems, such as the very confusing storyline. Being limited to two party members (and a horde of monster allies) isn't a big deal from a gameplay perspective, but it did seem to make the cast a bit less interesting. As for the villain, Caius, he seems to be only thing holding the whole game together and somewhat interesting; waiting to see what motivates him (which makes him a very effective tragic villain) is a better attention-getter than the party members' goals (which has the side benefit of not making them annoying), though one could easily argue that the execution isn't quite there.

Final Fantasy XIV
The undeniable trainwreck, the problems here are too prolific to go into; it's an MMORPG which is cursed with one of the worst launches in the history of the genre (or at least the most famous). That and players these days aren't really looking for MMORPGs, it's only developper who want that instant cash-cow; players either already have an MMORPG of choice (and due to the commitments involved, are not moving from it) or aren't interested in the genre. Reportedly FFXI is Square's more profittable game, and the genre does seem ripe for a new big hit... and FFXIV was an unmitagated blunder.

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The Final Fantasy series is definitely having issues right now, and it's probably time they started looking at getting back to the basics. Take a look at the structure of the older classics in the series (I'd suggest IV-VI), figure out why they worked from both a gameplay and storyline perspective.

Then make a cliched game.
Yes, you read that right.

Make a cliched game, but make sure you do it well and flesh it out as much as possible; if it's done well enough, no one will care about the mildly generic nature of the game. This is exactly why both Xenoblade Chronicles and Dragon Age: Origins are huge successes; they're not even trying to be original, but they do things right.

At the very least, Square should learn what works and why. Then they'll know what they're doing when they start tweaking the formula in future games.

 

[La Kias]

In my opinion, Final Fantasy sucked after Square Soft merged with Enix. FFX-2 was balls, the characters were just too different from FFX that it made no sense and whilst there were some good songs (1000 words) it got too J-pop for no particularly good reason. Oh plus no victory fanfare.

12 is a marmite situation, you either loved it or you hated it. Personally, I liked my party standing in a row waiting for their turn to attack.

13...wow...it was just so slow. I just got bored, it didn't go anywhere not to mention that I just did not care at all about the characters who were bland and lifeless.

 

[John Farrell]

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.

1) I don't hate Final Fantasy 7 (Only 12, the last game I played, is worthy of my hate). It was my first Final Fantasy game and in my personal top 10 games of all time. I just said I hate those two because I was being petty.
2)I should clarify the class system thing. Other than weapons (and in Tifa and Vincent's case, Limit Breaks), there is almost no difference between using one character over the other. One of the reasons I actually like X is that each party member actually has something to do in combat. They were going for customizing the characters, I get that, but I came to like the class system from 5 (and to a slightly lesser extend Tactics) because I can invest in a character's growth rather than just swapping in a new glowing orb.
3) With the spin-offs, I felt that with Crisis Core explained too much, imho. How much Zack/Aerith knew each other (met a few times) and how it took an army to take Zack down. They had you do a mission where you kill 1000 shinra troops and defeat the Goddess, you think Zack couldn't have taken them. Or the last 3 guys take him out rather than portraying him having realistic endurance (I get sick of all the flying around FF do nowadays.) Just kinda undermines the end. And the sequels mope around too much.
4)After replaying it last year, Sephiroth was not the awesome villain I remember from 10 years ago. The prequels do make him interesting, but he is kinda bland in 7. That and he probably could have gotten away with it if he wasn't petty and got Cloud involved.
5)Jenova was said to shapeshift into loved one's to weaken the ancient's resolve. Just a wasted opportunity for an emotional scene.

 

[John Farrell]

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.

The combat was the deal-breaker for me in FF12. When I saw it 13 used the same format (or similar) I said fuck that and bought Resonance of Fate instead. Given how much bitching the 13 has gotten, I think I made the right choice.

 

[Erttheking]

Ok I haven't played any Final Fantasies beyond 6. Can someone tell me where the series has gone? I keep hearing people say that it's bad but rarely why.

 

[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.

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.

The excess amount of exaggeration you're giving off is kinda making your post kinda not so believable.

 

[burningdragoon]

Ok I haven't played any Final Fantasies beyond 6. Can someone tell me where the series has gone? I keep hearing people say that it's bad but rarely why.

I think can handle that, let's see.

FF7: I'd say most of the hatred of this is actually just dislike that's trying to match the people in the "best game evar" camp. The characters aren't especially developed, but that's the case in pretty much all of them.

FF8: The hate from this one I believe comes mostly from the magic system and also because the fairly silly amnesia-related plot point. Squall is a bit emo for most of it. Actually emo, unlike the emo accusations thrown at Cloud who doesn't really get emo until Advent Children.

FF9: No idea why people would hate this one. Other than maybe anyone who has only played the psuedo-sci-fi 7&8 not liking the more traditional fantasy setting.

FF10: super linear and annoying protagonist, stupid antagonist.

FF12: story is a bit thick and the combat "plays itself". The combat system is deeper version of the one in Dragon Age: Origins, so I don't entirely follow, but whatever.

FF13: extremely linear, more than 10, with terrible characters, a very convoluted story, with an even more "plays itself" combat system than 12.

The games are all (mostly) very different from each other, so it makes it hard to quantify the (alleged) decline, but that's a simple version of it.

 

[Erttheking]

Ok I haven't played any Final Fantasies beyond 6. Can someone tell me where the series has gone? I keep hearing people say that it's bad but rarely why.

I think can handle that, let's see.

FF7: I'd say most of the hatred of this is actually just dislike that's trying to match the people in the "best game evar" camp. The characters aren't especially developed, but that's the case in pretty much all of them.

FF8: The hate from this one I believe comes mostly from the magic system and also because the fairly silly amnesia-related plot point. Squall is a bit emo for most of it. Actually emo, unlike the emo accusations thrown at Cloud who doesn't really get emo until Advent Children.

FF9: No idea why people would hate this one. Other than maybe anyone who has only played the psuedo-sci-fi 7&8 not liking the more traditional fantasy setting.

FF10: super linear and annoying protagonist, stupid antagonist.

FF12: story is a bit thick and the combat "plays itself". The combat system is deeper version of the one in Dragon Age: Origins, so I don't entirely follow, but whatever.

FF13: extremely linear, more than 10, with terrible characters, a very convoluted story, with an even more "plays itself" combat system than 12.

The games are all (mostly) very different from each other, so it makes it hard to quantify the (alleged) decline, but that's a simple version of it.

I see...wait a minute you skipped FF11

 

[Erttheking]

Ok I haven't played any Final Fantasies beyond 6. Can someone tell me where the series has gone? I keep hearing people say that it's bad but rarely why.

I think can handle that, let's see.

FF7: I'd say most of the hatred of this is actually just dislike that's trying to match the people in the "best game evar" camp. The characters aren't especially developed, but that's the case in pretty much all of them.

FF8: The hate from this one I believe comes mostly from the magic system and also because the fairly silly amnesia-related plot point. Squall is a bit emo for most of it. Actually emo, unlike the emo accusations thrown at Cloud who doesn't really get emo until Advent Children.

FF9: No idea why people would hate this one. Other than maybe anyone who has only played the psuedo-sci-fi 7&8 not liking the more traditional fantasy setting.

FF10: super linear and annoying protagonist, stupid antagonist.

FF12: story is a bit thick and the combat "plays itself". The combat system is deeper version of the one in Dragon Age: Origins, so I don't entirely follow, but whatever.

FF13: extremely linear, more than 10, with terrible characters, a very convoluted story, with an even more "plays itself" combat system than 12.

The games are all (mostly) very different from each other, so it makes it hard to quantify the (alleged) decline, but that's a simple version of it.

I see...wait a minute you skipped FF11

That's because FF11 was just an MMO.

It was?...huh...guess that's why some people aren't to happy with square...an MMO...what the frak?

 

[Erttheking]

It was?...huh...guess that's why some people aren't to happy with square...an MMO...what the frak?

It still has about 500,000 players, so it's not doing too badly.

Yeah, guess it's going better than FF14 anyway. From what I heard that was a freaking train wreck.

 

[Lunatic High]

Popularity of the series was built before voice acting was even possible for video games or at least if it was possible at the time it was very rare ANYWAYS seems to me is that they're becoming much too flashy, FF13 was a good example it is a VERY pretty game but compared to some of the outdated older ones it still sucked on many levels with its whole hallway - wall - hallway - wall - hallway - wall style of play to name just 1 of the the many stains on the mattress. FF12 was pretty much the closet thing to perfect as a FF game can be in this day and age.

 

[Ryotknife]

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.)

okay, by todays standards sephiroth is not that special of a villain (also it doesnt help that the newer games featuring sephiroth make him look like a tool, besides crisis core). Back when FF7 came out, other than Kefka (although i played FF7 before FF6), sephiroth was the best darn tootin villain ive seen from any game as nearly every RPG villain was either a magician or a dark god. Got boring REAL quick. Not to mention their motivations were completely two dimension.

Sephiroth was the first villain in ANY video game that i actually liked. This includes NES, SNES, Genesis, and gameboy games.

Now if i was 10-15 years younger it would be a different story.