Final Fantasy General Chat

[Metroid66]

Plus, in this run (which could take a couple of years) I'm going to include sequels like X-2 and spin offs to the main entry's such as FF7 crisis core.

 

My own FF history from 6 would be:

 

6 not played

7 played and liked. Spin offs not played

8 not played

9 played to near end but not finished. Plot confused me.

10 and sequel played and loved

12 played. My favourite.

13 and sequels not played

15 played multiple times

16 intending to start first playthru next week.

[OCH]

1 hour ago, Maf said:

I got to the Costa Sol bit on the Switch last year and reached the limit

I'm nearly at my limit with the exact same area in Rebirth. It's so bad it's actually putting me off the game. Also, to be fair, the DS Remake of FF3 isn't as difficult as FF4 and enhances the original game by quite a bit.

 

54 minutes ago, Metroid66 said:

(this is bellow, by the way)

Duh, I remember some things. 😄Also yeah, as much as I adore FF9. I know the point when the plot of 9 becomes something completely different does lose people who aren't privy to the context.

33 minutes ago, Metroid66 said:

spin offs to the main entry's such as FF7 crisis core.

I would advise against that when it comes to FF7. They aren't good.

[Metroid66]

Interesting. I thought the recent remaster went down well with fans.

[one-armed dwarf]

It's an ok remaster but I thought it looked weird pasting higher res visuals on PSP characters.

 

Crisis Core is alright, though by modern standards I'd bet it's tedious. A lot of the VII spinoffs are different types of trashy but they can be fun. imo, people are a bit too uptight about not being seeing enjoying some good old trash now and again and exaggerate their badness. For that reason I recommend watching Advent Children. 

 

The only one I'd really dodge is Dirge of Cerberus. It's just really boring

[Nag]

1 hour ago, Metroid66 said:

8 not played

 

😭😭

[radiofloyd]

I’m in the highly recommend IV and VI camp. Both have amazing music too. Worth it for the music alone.

 

I played them in this order:

 

VIII - love it, one of my favourite games ever

IX - love it, one of my favourite games ever

VI - love it, GBA version is definitely better than the PS1 version though, I assume the awful slowdown from the PS1 version is gone from modern versions

X - love it, played many times

VII - late to the party with this but loved it too

X-2 - only FF I ever played with a guide which I regret, but cool game

IV - loved it

V - it was ok

XII - loved the gameplay, played it to death

XIII - it was ok

VII Remake - loved it, one of my favourite games of the last gen

 

Think that’s it so far.

[Metroid66]

I've noticed that while there are mixed views on 15 and 8, and then everyone settles on what the better games are, you're the first person to even mention 13.

[Nag]

I played 13 a lot... I also don't really get the hate for it, the battle system was great at the time and Fang rocks.

[OCH]

13 hours ago, Metroid66 said:

Interesting. I thought the recent remaster went down well with fans.

At the moment I'm specifically referring to Costa Del Sol. How they have padded out this area is not good. It's an issue with these two remakes in general. They are padding out areas of the original that were barely ten-twenty minutes long. Not to great effect in all cases. I imagine I am going to have similar reactions on what is to come from this Disc One Expansion.

22 minutes ago, Metroid66 said:

I've noticed that while there are mixed views on 15 and 8, and then everyone settles on what the better games are, you're the first person to even mention 13.

13... Has a great battle system, with a game tacked on around it. This results in the story almost being an afterthought. I know @Naglikes it. But I couldn't recommend it as a jump on FF to new players.

FF8 is a strong FF. It tried a lot of radical innovations to the mechanics of the series. Probably too many for one game. But, to me, as it is the most grounded of the PSOne trilogy. I regard it as the weakest of those three. 

[Maryokutai]

I replayed XIII for a bit last year, because I wanted to see how it runs on Series X after DF kept mentioning it as a great example for backwards compatibility. It actually does look phenomenal still, as if it were a console generation younger than it is. Of course that fidelity came at the price, which is its linearity, but enough has been said about that in the years since its release.

 

I'm still very ambivalent about it. The way it's designed you don't really get a feel for the world and the complete absence of the gimmicky stuff mentioned earlier in this topic makes it feel super basic, too. Almost like a proof of concept for its battle system, which arguably is pretty solid, though it has some things that kept bothering me (party leader dying resulting in a Game Over, or that the first, and only the first, Paradigm Shift per battle has a longer animation). It's somewhat fun to play if you know what you're getting into, but it never really went beyond that for me. I also stopped at the first difficulty spike after the party gets together – maybe I'll go back again at some point, because I actually never finished it. I'd actually also like to give XIII-2 a try at some point, which quite a few people rather enjoyed back in the day.

[one-armed dwarf]

I've warmed to 8 a lot more in recent years largely cause of Triple Triad.

 

I wouldn't even include it in the same category as XIII and XV tbh. What you have to consider as well is the blowback that game got for being the one that came after VII.

 

13 railroads your exploring and progression, they put you in a predefined 2 person party for lots of the game and don't really let you use the battle system until like chapter 10. Even levelling up is railroaded.

 

Which is a shame cause all the systems in that game are some of the series' best, but there's basically zero feeling of progression or control over most of it until that point

[OCH]

From what I recall of FF8, Squall is literally the least interesting protagonist in a modern FF. Give the (admittedly cool) Gun Blade to someone else and 8 should have been Laguna's spotlight. Aside from Laguna, I don't think I took to any of the party in the entire game? The Summons/Guardian Forces were the main draw for me. I still don't know what exactly Eden was supposed to be🤔

EDIT: Opted against the Remastered version as the GF sound effects aren't as good.

[Maf]

13 is one of the few FF's I've finished and I played some a bit ago on PC. I really like the strange world of it, the graphics are also amazing in the game. I really like the battle system and particularly the battle theme. I think it has one of the best battle theme's in the series. I also don't mind the linearity, either. Not really a problem for me.

 

My problem is when anyone opens their mouth 😅 replaying it last time on PC, I forgot what an absolute dork Snow is lol. I also never liked the summons being vehicles. I dunno why. I just dislike the idea.

 

Even though being one of the few games I've finished, I would still say it's extremely mid and one of the weakest games in the series. It's not terrible, but there's little of it that's great either. 

 

I know these aren't FF games but just to throw out there, if you want to play classic 2D style JRPG but modern then both Octopath Traveller 2 and Unchained Echoes are excellent JRPGs.

 

OT2 is like every JRPG rolled in to one, but a lot more rich and mature than most games in the genre. Unchained Echoes is designed for JRPG experts. The game starts off very difficult and complicated, like the mid-end game of most JRPG's, but it's hook is HP and MP are refilled automatically after every fight, so every fight right from the beginning requires the player to go all-out, every time. The writing is a bit hit'n'miss, but still excellent game 

[Metroid66]

On 29/03/2024 at 10:39, Maf said:

13 is one of the few FF's I've finished

 

This surprises me. Not that you finished 13, but that it implies you left many of the other games unfinished. 

 

I don't think I'm as serious a gamer as you (I manage about 10-12 hours a week) but I generally want to see the end. After blowing off steam about FF7 remake in the 'sacked that off' page, I'm already back in the fray, and have decided it's my mindset that needs adjusting rather than the game.

 

In fact my whole planned FF series run has more than a little to do with the early bath I took on 9. I've been (sadly) guilty about that for years, and my mind won't rest until the beast is conquered.

[Maf]

The only FF games I've finished are FF7, FF13 and Crisis Core. The other games I've played varying amounts of from about an hour to almost the end and fell off. 

 

I don't like leaving games unfinished, either. But I hop from game to game too much and some games get left behind along the way 

[OCH]

Finished FF's?🤔

1-10✅

12✅

Can't remember if I finished 13 or gave up on it?

Never touched 11 or 14.

Never completed any of the spin-offs.  

15✅

Not interested in 16, FF7Remake or Stranger of Paradise

Currently chipping away at Rebirth.

[Maryokutai]

I think I only finished X, XII, XV (+ the Pocket Version demake), Crystal Chronicles and Tactics Advance*. And all three Theatrhythm games if you want to count those.

 

But I have a terrible history of completing JRPGs in general, as much as I like the genre. There's a lot of different factors for that, some of them on the game side, some of them on my end, but it never really impacted how I felt about them. I have very fond memories of playing FFVIII even though I never saw through it til the very end.

 

*This just reminded me of that FFXII spin-off for the DS. I kind of want to play that at some point.

[Nag]

I don't care what anyone says the cgi ending to VIII is fucking perfect...

[Metroid66]

If no one minds I'll use this thread to keep a record of my great final fantasy franchise playthru. When I finish each game I'll make a brief review here and then copy and paste it when each subsequent game is completed, building a definitive list. I'll also give a bit of notice on my next game in case anyone wants to join in.

 

I reckon I'll finish FF7 remake in the next couple of days. That will be my first entry in the franchise playthru. And because I'm going on holiday next week it might be a good time to break out one of the games I have on my Switch (even though I wasn't planning to play the games back to back). Won't get loads of time but can definitely get something started, especially on that 4 hour flight to the Canaries.

 

So if anyone is up for it I'll be commencing with 6 on Sunday.

 

[OCH]

18 hours ago, Metroid66 said:

So if anyone is up for it I'll be commencing with 6 on Sunday.

Ohh! I can't remember when/where, but I thought someone mentioned a forum playthrough of FF7?

 

FF7, I can play while playing other games. Unlike 6, I wouldn't really need to concentrate on it. As it stands I don't think I could play 6 as well as Rebirth/Tekken 8/Armoured Core 6/Soul Calibur 6. Multi-tasking is not in my skillset unfortunately.