Sorry, Vaan. You've just been dethroned as carrier of the most hilarious set of Final Fantasy abs.
By who?
The (apparent) main character of Mevius. That artwork shows him wearing armor everywhere but his head and torso, creating this hilarious ab-window thing.
The iOS part really shouldn't bother me, since I have an iPad and iPhone. It's just that SE still hasn't figured out how to make an FF that's perfectly streamlined to the platform, either control-wise or visual-wise. If they can pull it off then the results can be pretty great.
The iOS part really shouldn't bother me, since I have an iPad and iPhone. It's just that SE still hasn't figured out how to make an FF that's perfectly streamlined to the platform, either control-wise or visual-wise. If they can pull it off then the results can be pretty great.
they are just trying to catch up to their competition, who have taken to replacing spaces with semicolons and naming their game after autogenerated passwords
they are just trying to catch up to their competition, who have taken to replacing spaces with semicolons and naming their game after autogenerated passwords
they are just trying to catch up to their competition, who have taken to replacing spaces with semicolons and naming their game after autogenerated passwords
Sorry, Vaan. You've just been dethroned as carrier of the most hilarious set of Final Fantasy abs.
By who?
The (apparent) main character of Mevius. That artwork shows him wearing armor everywhere but his head and torso, creating this hilarious ab-window thing.
You mean like women have been wearing in video games for god knows how many years?
they are just trying to catch up to their competition, who have taken to replacing spaces with semicolons and naming their game after autogenerated passwords
they are just trying to catch up to their competition, who have taken to replacing spaces with semicolons and naming their game after autogenerated passwords
....what
Steins;Gate
htoL#NiQ
For what it's worth, googling seems to indicate that htoL#NiQ is just some serious lingual corruption of "Hotaru no Nikki", or "Firefly's Diary". You can kind of see how the former is pronounced like the latter if you squint a bit.
And anyway, why settle for Steins;Gate when the previous game in the series is even more nutty? ChäoS;HEAd sounds like a metal band name gone wrong.
Sorry, Vaan. You've just been dethroned as carrier of the most hilarious set of Final Fantasy abs.
By who?
The (apparent) main character of Mevius. That artwork shows him wearing armor everywhere but his head and torso, creating this hilarious ab-window thing.
You mean like women have been wearing in video games for god knows how many years?
Yes. This is also extremely stupid. I had no intention of implying that it was uniquely stupid.
Sorry, Vaan. You've just been dethroned as carrier of the most hilarious set of Final Fantasy abs.
By who?
The (apparent) main character of Mevius. That artwork shows him wearing armor everywhere but his head and torso, creating this hilarious ab-window thing.
You mean like women have been wearing in video games for god knows how many years?
Yes. This is also extremely stupid. I had no intention of implying that it was uniquely stupid.
I think the "it's a fantasy setting" argument holds true in most FF games...provided it's an all-inclusive thing.
If there's just the one character, male or female, wearing a half-spandex boob/abs window and everyone else is fully geared up, then it becomes a distraction. Lulu from FFX being a very glaring example.
Sorry, Vaan. You've just been dethroned as carrier of the most hilarious set of Final Fantasy abs.
By who?
The (apparent) main character of Mevius. That artwork shows him wearing armor everywhere but his head and torso, creating this hilarious ab-window thing.
You mean like women have been wearing in video games for god knows how many years?
Yes. This is also extremely stupid. I had no intention of implying that it was uniquely stupid.
I think the "it's a fantasy setting" argument holds true in most FF games...provided it's an all-inclusive thing.
If there's just the one character, male or female, wearing a half-spandex boob/abs window and everyone else is fully geared up, then it becomes a distraction. Lulu from FFX being a very glaring example.
Look, all the clothes in FFX were stupid. Lulu's just had the added bonus of also being sexist.
There were enough man abs to make Lulu's cleavage comparably tolerable.
It's the animations that were more problematic there. Oh, and the NPCs (Lucil, random al-Bhed bikini ladies).
But yeah, I rather like it when everything is totally bonkers for everybody (see: Dynasty Warriors). Bring on the ridiculous man-armor windows and skinny metal leggings!
Fleur de Alys on
Triptycho: A card-and-dice tabletop indie RPG currently in development and playtesting
I was going to revise my statement and say FFX-2 Rikku had the most blatantly sexist outfit (and it still might be....it's hard to overlook a G-string), but I'd say Yunalesca has to be number one.
I never had any issue with the design of Lulu's outfit so much as it just made no sense in the context of the world. Her clothing doesn't fit the environment she lived in, and is nothing like the clothing of anyone else in the entire world of Spira. Like, who the fuck made that dress? And how bad does it smell at the end of their journey?
So I made it my mission to play all the (modern) FF games this year, with my only experience with the series being 13 and 13-2. I started with 7 and I've just recently finished 13-3, skipping 12 as there's no HD edition and my laptop emulated it... poorly. As far as I can tell I've watched/played all the extra material for the games, like say Crisis Core, Advent Children, FF10-2 Last Mission, etc.
My rankings?
10 > 13-3 > 7 > 9 > 13-2 > 13 >> 10-2 > 8
Definitely a trip worth taking. It was pretty amazing watching a video game series grow from iteration to iteration like that. I can give my reasonings for my rankings if people give a damn.
Now I'm planning to play the earlier FFs, but I don't know which are worth playing, since I assume the very early ones are from the no-story-whatsoever era of videogames. I was thinking 4 onwards?
So I made it my mission to play all the (modern) FF games this year, with my only experience with the series being 13 and 13-2. I started with 7 and I've just recently finished 13-3, skipping 12 as there's no HD edition and my laptop emulated it... poorly. As far as I can tell I've watched/played all the extra material for the games, like say Crisis Core, Advent Children, FF10-2 Last Mission, etc.
My rankings?
10 > 13-3 > 7 > 9 > 13-2 > 13 >> 10-2 > 8
Definitely a trip worth taking. It was pretty amazing watching a video game series grow from iteration to iteration like that. I can give my reasonings for my rankings if people give a damn.
Now I'm planning to play the earlier FFs, but I don't know which are worth playing, since I assume the very early ones are from the no-story-whatsoever era of videogames. I was thinking 4 onwards?
I've actually really wanted to do this but start at one and just move through them all. I've played most of the modern ones but I think it'd be amazing to watch the series grow up. I already appreciate the hell out FF and I think that would only grow with a marathon like this.
So I made it my mission to play all the (modern) FF games this year, with my only experience with the series being 13 and 13-2. I started with 7 and I've just recently finished 13-3, skipping 12 as there's no HD edition and my laptop emulated it... poorly. As far as I can tell I've watched/played all the extra material for the games, like say Crisis Core, Advent Children, FF10-2 Last Mission, etc.
My rankings?
10 > 13-3 > 7 > 9 > 13-2 > 13 >> 10-2 > 8
Definitely a trip worth taking. It was pretty amazing watching a video game series grow from iteration to iteration like that. I can give my reasonings for my rankings if people give a damn.
Now I'm planning to play the earlier FFs, but I don't know which are worth playing, since I assume the very early ones are from the no-story-whatsoever era of videogames. I was thinking 4 onwards?
The fact that you're ranking Lightning Returns above all those other FFs is....
So I made it my mission to play all the (modern) FF games this year, with my only experience with the series being 13 and 13-2. I started with 7 and I've just recently finished 13-3, skipping 12 as there's no HD edition and my laptop emulated it... poorly. As far as I can tell I've watched/played all the extra material for the games, like say Crisis Core, Advent Children, FF10-2 Last Mission, etc.
My rankings?
10 > 13-3 > 7 > 9 > 13-2 > 13 >> 10-2 > 8
Definitely a trip worth taking. It was pretty amazing watching a video game series grow from iteration to iteration like that. I can give my reasonings for my rankings if people give a damn.
Now I'm planning to play the earlier FFs, but I don't know which are worth playing, since I assume the very early ones are from the no-story-whatsoever era of videogames. I was thinking 4 onwards?
The fact that you're ranking Lightning Returns above all those other FFs is....
Well, it's a unique order, I'll grant you that.
I think it's reasonable. Nostalgia colors a lot of feelings on FF games, and I can't say I've ever seen a compelling argument for the older titles being better than the newer ones in any objective sense, so it shouldn't be surprising that people who come in later will sometimes rank the newer ones higher. I have no problem arguing that LR is more fun to play than a lot of the older titles, if only because it doesn't have any "and now you do this slow and shitty part" moments like virtually all of the older ones do, and the combat stays fun and fast throughout, whereas say, FF9 has the most godawful slow combat in the entire series.
So I made it my mission to play all the (modern) FF games this year, with my only experience with the series being 13 and 13-2. I started with 7 and I've just recently finished 13-3, skipping 12 as there's no HD edition and my laptop emulated it... poorly. As far as I can tell I've watched/played all the extra material for the games, like say Crisis Core, Advent Children, FF10-2 Last Mission, etc.
My rankings?
10 > 13-3 > 7 > 9 > 13-2 > 13 >> 10-2 > 8
Definitely a trip worth taking. It was pretty amazing watching a video game series grow from iteration to iteration like that. I can give my reasonings for my rankings if people give a damn.
Now I'm planning to play the earlier FFs, but I don't know which are worth playing, since I assume the very early ones are from the no-story-whatsoever era of videogames. I was thinking 4 onwards?
If it were down to gameplay I'd be surprised to see 10-2 so low, and if it were down to story I'd be surprised to see 13-3 so high. Would be really interested in hearing your reasoning behind those ranks.
With a guide FF1 isn't going to take much of your time, and my understanding is that FF2 has a pretty good plot. 3 is not much fun at all, but it seems a shame to skip just one title :P
Even FF1 has some pieces of a plot, it's just kind of threadbare and mostly leaves stitching together the narrative to you. Certainly not plot heavy by any interpretation, but it's not like the game drops you in a world and hopes you figure out what to do on your own.
Now, there's no unique characterization of your build-a-heroes, but that's the only part that's absolutely lacking compared to modern FFs.
I too have dreamed about playing all the mainline FFs in one year or something, and still have them all through X-2 on my Vita just for the novelty of it, but I don't know if I can stomach III.
3DS: 2466-2307-8384 PSN: bssteph Steam:bsstephanTwitch:bsstephan Tabletop:13th Age (mm-mmm), D&D 4e Occasional words about games:my site
So I made it my mission to play all the (modern) FF games this year, with my only experience with the series being 13 and 13-2. I started with 7 and I've just recently finished 13-3, skipping 12 as there's no HD edition and my laptop emulated it... poorly. As far as I can tell I've watched/played all the extra material for the games, like say Crisis Core, Advent Children, FF10-2 Last Mission, etc.
My rankings?
10 > 13-3 > 7 > 9 > 13-2 > 13 >> 10-2 > 8
Definitely a trip worth taking. It was pretty amazing watching a video game series grow from iteration to iteration like that. I can give my reasonings for my rankings if people give a damn.
Now I'm planning to play the earlier FFs, but I don't know which are worth playing, since I assume the very early ones are from the no-story-whatsoever era of videogames. I was thinking 4 onwards?
The fact that you're ranking Lightning Returns above all those other FFs is....
Well, it's a unique order, I'll grant you that.
I think it's reasonable. Nostalgia colors a lot of feelings on FF games, and I can't say I've ever seen a compelling argument for the older titles being better than the newer ones in any objective sense, so it shouldn't be surprising that people who come in later will sometimes rank the newer ones higher. I have no problem arguing that LR is more fun to play than a lot of the older titles, if only because it doesn't have any "and now you do this slow and shitty part" moments like virtually all of the older ones do, and the combat stays fun and fast throughout, whereas say, FF9 has the most godawful slow combat in the entire series.
LR has side quests that probably only took about an hour that felt like more of a slog to me than anything in any of the other FF games ever did, even the slogs those games had that I hated. The only good thing I can say about LR is that the combat was pretty fun. It has nothing to do with nostalgia either. LR is the only mainline FF game I've actually quit after starting because I just couldn't stand to finish it. I watched cutscenes of the last 1/3rd of the story or so, and even that was a chore because the story wasn't even worth watching.
They mailed it in on LR in the worst way, and I think it's reflected in the general critical consensus of the game.
Is this where people can talk about Theatrythm? Or however it's spelled?
I love love LOVE Curtain Call -- aside from the fact that summoning has wrecked a few quests for me. I hate that the act of summoning does zero damage, so I have to waste my Knights of the Round on an imp that has like 2 HP before the boss even shows up.
Some of the sidegame music's a hoot, too. The battle music for X-2 (which I never played) is hilarious.
I played it for about 20 hours and haven't gone back. I don't think I even played through all the music once each, though I definitely want to do that. But after that, I don't know if I'll keep playing it.
It's weird. It's kind of a combination jukebox/museum. Once I've listened to/seen enough, I think I'll have squeezed it dry.
So I made it my mission to play all the (modern) FF games this year, with my only experience with the series being 13 and 13-2. I started with 7 and I've just recently finished 13-3, skipping 12 as there's no HD edition and my laptop emulated it... poorly. As far as I can tell I've watched/played all the extra material for the games, like say Crisis Core, Advent Children, FF10-2 Last Mission, etc.
My rankings?
10 > 13-3 > 7 > 9 > 13-2 > 13 >> 10-2 > 8
Definitely a trip worth taking. It was pretty amazing watching a video game series grow from iteration to iteration like that. I can give my reasonings for my rankings if people give a damn.
Now I'm planning to play the earlier FFs, but I don't know which are worth playing, since I assume the very early ones are from the no-story-whatsoever era of videogames. I was thinking 4 onwards?
The fact that you're ranking Lightning Returns above all those other FFs is....
Well, it's a unique order, I'll grant you that.
I think it's reasonable. Nostalgia colors a lot of feelings on FF games, and I can't say I've ever seen a compelling argument for the older titles being better than the newer ones in any objective sense, so it shouldn't be surprising that people who come in later will sometimes rank the newer ones higher. I have no problem arguing that LR is more fun to play than a lot of the older titles, if only because it doesn't have any "and now you do this slow and shitty part" moments like virtually all of the older ones do, and the combat stays fun and fast throughout, whereas say, FF9 has the most godawful slow combat in the entire series.
LR has side quests that probably only took about an hour that felt like more of a slog to me than anything in any of the other FF games ever did, even the slogs those games had that I hated. The only good thing I can say about LR is that the combat was pretty fun. It has nothing to do with nostalgia either. LR is the only mainline FF game I've actually quit after starting because I just couldn't stand to finish it. I watched cutscenes of the last 1/3rd of the story or so, and even that was a chore because the story wasn't even worth watching.
They mailed it in on LR in the worst way, and I think it's reflected in the general critical consensus of the game.
I wouldn't call doing something different to your standard FF mailing it in. LR experiments a lot. If this was a good or a bad thing is another question.
IMO, personally, LR grew on me immensly the more I played it. I can see the reasons for both hating the game and loving it. But, its really something you first have to get used to.
Funnily enough the game has a high percentage of people that platiniumed the game on PS3 comparativly to other rpgs. Granted there aren't any huge timesinks, but it does show that people who get into it, really get into it.
Thanks for the recommendations, I think I'll play all of 1-6. Be a shame to miss any titles out, now that you mention it.
And since people are interested, here why I ranked the games the way I did:
10: This game was amazing - probably one of my favourite videogames of all time. It was extremely rewarding to plan things out on the expert sphere grid, and switching between party members each turn during battle to make use of their strengths felt amazing. The real reason I loved this game though was the story. I loved the world of Spira, I loved the development of Tidus, Yuna, Wakka, and the others, and I especially loved how melancholy the game was - the feeling of finally reaching Zanarkand, with everything that meant, is definitely going to stick with me for a while. The sheer catharsis when the party collectively says "screw destiny" to Yunalesca at Zanarkand, Tidus losing it at Home when he realises he's been pushing Yuna to sacrifice herself the entire game, the emotion during the final boss when you summon and defeat each aeon... just, damn. I loved this game.
13-3: What can I say? Given that the 13 trilogy was my first entry into final fantasy I think I going into them without any baggage or expectations from previous entries made me enjoy them a lot more. The combat in Lightning Returns was fast, punchy, satisfying and challenging. The plot definitely gets points for originality - I really liked the premise of being the saviour, and the game really made you feel like a badass. The music was full of callbacks to the previous two games and I loved it for that. I think the real reason I liked this game so much is that I'm a sucker for fanservice - partying up with Fang, watching all the main characters from previous games be badasses, and, hell, I loved the ridiculous ending with friendship beams and the power of love and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann-esque spectacle. The game had a sense of momentum that other games in the series lacked - I never felt bored or that I was stuck in a rut. Maybe it's because it's the ending to my first entry into final fantasy, but I really liked this game.
7: Damn, now I can see why this series has so many die-hard followers. While the game was... simpler than the older entries, there was still way more complex story telling than I thought there would be. The materia system was fun if not that complex, the world was a breath of fresh air, and the combat system was great fun, what with every boss usually having a trick to killing them. The main problem I had was that it felt that some of the character's kinda dropped off the map early on. I remember being interested in Red XIII, but after his given segment in disc 1 he never comes up again. But, the main regret I have about this game is knowing pretty much everything about Aerith's death. If I had no idea that was coming, I would have been destroyed - I can definitely see why that moment is such a massive pop-culture thing in videogames. The expanded universe was pretty good too, Zack Fair in Crisis Core was amazing (and that ending... :bigfrown: ), and Advent Children was passable fanservice. I definitely would have liked AC more if they didn't have the FF7 cast just fucking fly off and leave Cloud to fight Sepheroth. Like... seriously. The fuck was that?
9: Such an amazing atmosphere. The music, the menus, the design, the characters, the world of FF9 felt so unique. The battle system was ok, nothing special. The skills from equipment thing didn't really add as much depth as I expected. The characters, while great, had the same problem as FF7 in that after their allotted character development slot, they kinda fell by the wayside. In this case, Freya. Vivi is such an amazing character though. The overall plot was fine, but now at least I know where the "space flea from nowhere" trope comes from. I know it's final fantasy, but that final boss really clashed with the rest of the game.
13-2: Fixed all the problems I had with the original. While the time travel plot was basically a solid mass of deus ex machina, it was interesting to see more of the world of FF13. Noel and Sarah had great development over the course of the game, and I loved the focus on a smaller party. The combat system was just a refined version of the original, which I loved, so no complaints there. Finding the multiple endings was great, and I actually loved the true ending. Hearing the end credits open with the villain's theme was an amazing moment, and I guess I have no problem with a downer ending like that.
13: Great game. While, yes, there are problems such as the combat system being designed for 3 people yet you only having a party of two for most of the game, I think it gets a lot of unfair criticism. I never understood the linearity thing when the plot of FF13 depends on that linearity to work, and even then FF10 felt just as linear. Focusing on party roles rather than specific spells and abilites felt great - it felt amazing to react to the enemy on a strategic level. The plot was, yeah, kinda bad, but playing the sequels retroactively made it better for me, I guess.
10-2: Sheesh. I was warned by friends going in that this was completely removed in tone from 10, but I never suspected how much that was true. I understand on some level that, with Sin gone, the world is just more happy and carefree and the game represents that, but man does it feel like a kick in the teeth when you spend a chunk of the game setting up a pop concert to save the world or some shit. The combat system was meh. Dresspheres kinda devolved into giving party members a physical/magic/support dressphere each. The garment grid system was a passing curiosity I felt I never needed to use. The only thing I liked was the character development, particually in Last Mission. I never bothered to finished FF10-2, I got to the final dungeon and watched the ending on youtube. Honestly I'm going to imagine it didn't happen. Oh, and the audio drama in the HD edition was insanely bad. People acting out of character everywhere, events that completely ruin the previous games, ugh. Maybe I'm being unfair here but I hated FF10-2.
8: Terrible. Although, I definitely ruined the combat for myself a bit. Thing is, I didn't read up on the game that much, so I didn't know that the enemies leveled with you, and that lower level enemies are easier. So what did I do when I found the game to be getting a bit easy? I turned on the no-encounters skill thinking the enemies would get harder. Ugh. The leeching magic and assigning it to skills was just a chore without much depth to make it worth it. Story was bad - while the semi-realistic world was interesting, the plot after the first disc was just terrible. The orphanage scene and the accompaning revelations was just stupid, and it felt like the plot just decided to shoot itself in the head from the second disc onwards. Thing is, I found something called the "Squall is Dead" theory after I'd finished that game, which asserts that Squall died from the ice lance at the assassination, and the rest of the game is his dying dream. I know it's definitely not true, but the plot is so much more bearable if you accept the theory that I choose to believe it. Again, didn't finish. Got to the final dungeon and watched the ending.
Wow that's a lot of text. Hope it's interesting to some of you.
Posts
The Elder Crystals: Enemies of Blight
That sounds like a Captain Planet game.
Which, you know, I'd probably play the hell out of.
By who?
The (apparent) main character of Mevius. That artwork shows him wearing armor everywhere but his head and torso, creating this hilarious ab-window thing.
Warrior of Light and Garland were cool in that game, so putting them in a proper RPG would be potentially great.
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Jesus Christ what the fuck are these names
PSN/Steam/NNID: SyphonBlue | BNet: SyphonBlue#1126
You're a few Core Rhythm Duodecims late to complain about that.
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....what
PSN/Steam/NNID: SyphonBlue | BNet: SyphonBlue#1126
Steins;Gate
htoL#NiQ
You mean like women have been wearing in video games for god knows how many years?
....what
PSN/Steam/NNID: SyphonBlue | BNet: SyphonBlue#1126
For what it's worth, googling seems to indicate that htoL#NiQ is just some serious lingual corruption of "Hotaru no Nikki", or "Firefly's Diary". You can kind of see how the former is pronounced like the latter if you squint a bit.
And anyway, why settle for Steins;Gate when the previous game in the series is even more nutty? ChäoS;HEAd sounds like a metal band name gone wrong.
Yes. This is also extremely stupid. I had no intention of implying that it was uniquely stupid.
I think the "it's a fantasy setting" argument holds true in most FF games...provided it's an all-inclusive thing.
If there's just the one character, male or female, wearing a half-spandex boob/abs window and everyone else is fully geared up, then it becomes a distraction. Lulu from FFX being a very glaring example.
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PSN/Steam/NNID: SyphonBlue | BNet: SyphonBlue#1126
It's the animations that were more problematic there. Oh, and the NPCs (Lucil, random al-Bhed bikini ladies).
But yeah, I rather like it when everything is totally bonkers for everybody (see: Dynasty Warriors). Bring on the ridiculous man-armor windows and skinny metal leggings!
Might as well not wear anything at that point.
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...and then I learned to read. Ignore me.
My rankings?
10 > 13-3 > 7 > 9 > 13-2 > 13 >> 10-2 > 8
Definitely a trip worth taking. It was pretty amazing watching a video game series grow from iteration to iteration like that. I can give my reasonings for my rankings if people give a damn.
Now I'm planning to play the earlier FFs, but I don't know which are worth playing, since I assume the very early ones are from the no-story-whatsoever era of videogames. I was thinking 4 onwards?
I've actually really wanted to do this but start at one and just move through them all. I've played most of the modern ones but I think it'd be amazing to watch the series grow up. I already appreciate the hell out FF and I think that would only grow with a marathon like this.
The fact that you're ranking Lightning Returns above all those other FFs is....
Well, it's a unique order, I'll grant you that.
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I think it's reasonable. Nostalgia colors a lot of feelings on FF games, and I can't say I've ever seen a compelling argument for the older titles being better than the newer ones in any objective sense, so it shouldn't be surprising that people who come in later will sometimes rank the newer ones higher. I have no problem arguing that LR is more fun to play than a lot of the older titles, if only because it doesn't have any "and now you do this slow and shitty part" moments like virtually all of the older ones do, and the combat stays fun and fast throughout, whereas say, FF9 has the most godawful slow combat in the entire series.
It also set up a load of recurring things narrative wise in the series. I personally dislike the game though.
If it were down to gameplay I'd be surprised to see 10-2 so low, and if it were down to story I'd be surprised to see 13-3 so high. Would be really interested in hearing your reasoning behind those ranks.
With a guide FF1 isn't going to take much of your time, and my understanding is that FF2 has a pretty good plot. 3 is not much fun at all, but it seems a shame to skip just one title :P
Now, there's no unique characterization of your build-a-heroes, but that's the only part that's absolutely lacking compared to modern FFs.
I too have dreamed about playing all the mainline FFs in one year or something, and still have them all through X-2 on my Vita just for the novelty of it, but I don't know if I can stomach III.
Tabletop:13th Age (mm-mmm), D&D 4e
Occasional words about games: my site
LR has side quests that probably only took about an hour that felt like more of a slog to me than anything in any of the other FF games ever did, even the slogs those games had that I hated. The only good thing I can say about LR is that the combat was pretty fun. It has nothing to do with nostalgia either. LR is the only mainline FF game I've actually quit after starting because I just couldn't stand to finish it. I watched cutscenes of the last 1/3rd of the story or so, and even that was a chore because the story wasn't even worth watching.
They mailed it in on LR in the worst way, and I think it's reflected in the general critical consensus of the game.
It's pretty bare-bones and also simultaneously kind of crazy, but it sure is a plot.
I love love LOVE Curtain Call -- aside from the fact that summoning has wrecked a few quests for me. I hate that the act of summoning does zero damage, so I have to waste my Knights of the Round on an imp that has like 2 HP before the boss even shows up.
Some of the sidegame music's a hoot, too. The battle music for X-2 (which I never played) is hilarious.
PSN/Steam/NNID: SyphonBlue | BNet: SyphonBlue#1126
It's weird. It's kind of a combination jukebox/museum. Once I've listened to/seen enough, I think I'll have squeezed it dry.
I wouldn't call doing something different to your standard FF mailing it in. LR experiments a lot. If this was a good or a bad thing is another question.
IMO, personally, LR grew on me immensly the more I played it. I can see the reasons for both hating the game and loving it. But, its really something you first have to get used to.
Funnily enough the game has a high percentage of people that platiniumed the game on PS3 comparativly to other rpgs. Granted there aren't any huge timesinks, but it does show that people who get into it, really get into it.
And since people are interested, here why I ranked the games the way I did:
13-3: What can I say? Given that the 13 trilogy was my first entry into final fantasy I think I going into them without any baggage or expectations from previous entries made me enjoy them a lot more. The combat in Lightning Returns was fast, punchy, satisfying and challenging. The plot definitely gets points for originality - I really liked the premise of being the saviour, and the game really made you feel like a badass. The music was full of callbacks to the previous two games and I loved it for that. I think the real reason I liked this game so much is that I'm a sucker for fanservice - partying up with Fang, watching all the main characters from previous games be badasses, and, hell, I loved the ridiculous ending with friendship beams and the power of love and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann-esque spectacle. The game had a sense of momentum that other games in the series lacked - I never felt bored or that I was stuck in a rut. Maybe it's because it's the ending to my first entry into final fantasy, but I really liked this game.
7: Damn, now I can see why this series has so many die-hard followers. While the game was... simpler than the older entries, there was still way more complex story telling than I thought there would be. The materia system was fun if not that complex, the world was a breath of fresh air, and the combat system was great fun, what with every boss usually having a trick to killing them. The main problem I had was that it felt that some of the character's kinda dropped off the map early on. I remember being interested in Red XIII, but after his given segment in disc 1 he never comes up again. But, the main regret I have about this game is knowing pretty much everything about Aerith's death. If I had no idea that was coming, I would have been destroyed - I can definitely see why that moment is such a massive pop-culture thing in videogames. The expanded universe was pretty good too, Zack Fair in Crisis Core was amazing (and that ending... :bigfrown: ), and Advent Children was passable fanservice. I definitely would have liked AC more if they didn't have the FF7 cast just fucking fly off and leave Cloud to fight Sepheroth. Like... seriously. The fuck was that?
9: Such an amazing atmosphere. The music, the menus, the design, the characters, the world of FF9 felt so unique. The battle system was ok, nothing special. The skills from equipment thing didn't really add as much depth as I expected. The characters, while great, had the same problem as FF7 in that after their allotted character development slot, they kinda fell by the wayside. In this case, Freya. Vivi is such an amazing character though. The overall plot was fine, but now at least I know where the "space flea from nowhere" trope comes from. I know it's final fantasy, but that final boss really clashed with the rest of the game.
13-2: Fixed all the problems I had with the original. While the time travel plot was basically a solid mass of deus ex machina, it was interesting to see more of the world of FF13. Noel and Sarah had great development over the course of the game, and I loved the focus on a smaller party. The combat system was just a refined version of the original, which I loved, so no complaints there. Finding the multiple endings was great, and I actually loved the true ending. Hearing the end credits open with the villain's theme was an amazing moment, and I guess I have no problem with a downer ending like that.
13: Great game. While, yes, there are problems such as the combat system being designed for 3 people yet you only having a party of two for most of the game, I think it gets a lot of unfair criticism. I never understood the linearity thing when the plot of FF13 depends on that linearity to work, and even then FF10 felt just as linear. Focusing on party roles rather than specific spells and abilites felt great - it felt amazing to react to the enemy on a strategic level. The plot was, yeah, kinda bad, but playing the sequels retroactively made it better for me, I guess.
10-2: Sheesh. I was warned by friends going in that this was completely removed in tone from 10, but I never suspected how much that was true. I understand on some level that, with Sin gone, the world is just more happy and carefree and the game represents that, but man does it feel like a kick in the teeth when you spend a chunk of the game setting up a pop concert to save the world or some shit. The combat system was meh. Dresspheres kinda devolved into giving party members a physical/magic/support dressphere each. The garment grid system was a passing curiosity I felt I never needed to use. The only thing I liked was the character development, particually in Last Mission. I never bothered to finished FF10-2, I got to the final dungeon and watched the ending on youtube. Honestly I'm going to imagine it didn't happen. Oh, and the audio drama in the HD edition was insanely bad. People acting out of character everywhere, events that completely ruin the previous games, ugh. Maybe I'm being unfair here but I hated FF10-2.
8: Terrible. Although, I definitely ruined the combat for myself a bit. Thing is, I didn't read up on the game that much, so I didn't know that the enemies leveled with you, and that lower level enemies are easier. So what did I do when I found the game to be getting a bit easy? I turned on the no-encounters skill thinking the enemies would get harder. Ugh. The leeching magic and assigning it to skills was just a chore without much depth to make it worth it. Story was bad - while the semi-realistic world was interesting, the plot after the first disc was just terrible. The orphanage scene and the accompaning revelations was just stupid, and it felt like the plot just decided to shoot itself in the head from the second disc onwards. Thing is, I found something called the "Squall is Dead" theory after I'd finished that game, which asserts that Squall died from the ice lance at the assassination, and the rest of the game is his dying dream. I know it's definitely not true, but the plot is so much more bearable if you accept the theory that I choose to believe it. Again, didn't finish. Got to the final dungeon and watched the ending.
Wow that's a lot of text. Hope it's interesting to some of you.