As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/
We're funding a new Acquisitions Incorporated series on Kickstarter right now! Check it out at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pennyarcade/acquisitions-incorporated-the-series-2

[Final Fantasy] XI is the only good one

1484951535462

Posts

  • SipexSipex Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Rust wrote: »
    hadoken wrote: »
    Wasn't Zidane really manly? I think he was manly i mean, he had a tail. Pretty manly right?

    he was capable, comedic, and had almost no emotional baggage until a brief and sort of crappy scene near the end

    he was a pretty good protagonist

    Zidane is my favourite protagonist.

    He's also one of the few that deviates from the "Protagonist uses/starts with a sword" trope that FF is so fond of. He doesn't go too far mind you (Daggers and that Dagger/pole thing) but it's a nice change.

    Sipex on
  • Xenogears of BoreXenogears of Bore Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Not every one.

    FF1=The stupid reveal is kinda brilliant
    FF2=See above
    FF3=WHOLE NOTHER WORLD.
    FF4=MY BROTHER, ALSO MY DAD/I'M AN ALIEN.
    FF5=WHOLE NOTHER WORLD+MY DAD/I'M AN ALIEN+VILLIAN IS A TREEEEEE.
    FF6=WORLD BLEW UP+I'M AN ALIEN!
    FF7=VILLIAN IS AN ALIEN+I'M PRETENDING TO BE SOMEONE COOL.
    FF8=We know this one.
    FF9=I'M A CONSTRUCT ALIEN.
    FF10=I'M DEAD/MY DADDY IS THE VILLAIN.
    FF12=REALLY STRAIGHTFORWARD!
    FF13=GOD DID IT!

    Xenogears of Bore on
    3DS CODE: 3093-7068-3576
  • DragkoniasDragkonias That Guy Who Does Stuff You Know, There. Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Can't say the plot of FF8 bothered me all that much beyond a little "?" mark popping up in my head.

    That being said I can't say I took any of the plots in FF games all that seriously. Sounds like a formula for headaches.

    Dragkonias on
  • SipexSipex Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Does anyone read the himdaisy comics of MGS and Persona? FF's crazy story holes would totally lend itself to that style of mocking.

    Sipex on
  • DuffelDuffel jacobkosh Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Dragkonias wrote: »
    Can't say the plot of FF8 bothered me all that much beyond a little "?" mark popping up in my head.

    That being said I can't say I took any of the plots in FF games all that seriously. Sounds like a formula for headaches.
    It pretty much is, especially in the games where it's more obvious that they were making stuff up as they went along. FF8 was obviously the worst in that department, although I think most of them have bits of it from time to time (especially the NES ones... but seriously, who plays an NES rpg for the story in the first place?)

    Duffel on
  • LorahaloLorahalo Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    The story for FF8 started good, with the whole sorceress ambassador and the plot to destroy the Garden but it just got so damn silly. I mean really. Time travel. REALLY.

    Lorahalo on
    I have a podcast about Digimon called the Digital Moncast, on Audio Entropy.
  • SipexSipex Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    At least they learned and haven't included time travel since.

    ...

    Have they?

    Sipex on
  • Xenogears of BoreXenogears of Bore Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    FF X.

    For the record, FF VIII has no time travel, well not really at any rate. It does have a wacky plot involving stopping the progress of time though.

    Xenogears of Bore on
    3DS CODE: 3093-7068-3576
  • DuffelDuffel jacobkosh Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Yeah, I just think they kind of quit plotting it out after the battle of the two gardens. Up until then it was pretty great.

    My favorite aspect of FF8 was the setting, though. FF7's world was kind of disjointed and schizophrenic. You had towns like Midgar and Junon and the Gold Saucer, and then you had towns like Kalm or Nibelheim or Fort Condor, and it was all just kind of a hodgepodge.

    In FF8 we had a fairly consistent mid-20th-century Cold-War type setting with a few sci-fi/fantasy elements. Dollet, Balamb, Galbadia, Timber and even the Gardens all felt pretty consistently like they were part of a single, unified world. Of course, it got weird when you went to Esthar, but the plot had already went off the rails by then anyway. An egregrious case of the art department writing the script.

    Duffel on
  • LockeColeLockeCole Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    FF X.

    For the record, FF VIII has no time travel, well not really at any rate. It does have a wacky plot involving stopping the progress of time though.

    Well there was the part where Squall goes back and gives Edna instructions on what she is going to do in the future. But the plot went stupid waaaaaaay before that.

    LockeCole on
  • AdusAdus Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    "Time compression."

    It's pretty ridiculous and one if my issues with FF8. How do you even begin to explain that?

    Adus on
  • RenzoRenzo Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Adus wrote: »
    "Time compression."

    It's pretty ridiculous and one if my issues with FF8. How do you even begin to explain that?

    kompression

    Renzo on
  • Xenogears of BoreXenogears of Bore Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    LockeCole wrote: »
    FF X.

    For the record, FF VIII has no time travel, well not really at any rate. It does have a wacky plot involving stopping the progress of time though.

    Well there was the part where Squall goes back and gives Edna instructions on what she is going to do in the future. But the plot went stupid waaaaaaay before that.

    I guess. It's minor though and not the usual got to fix a mistake in the past sort of time wankery. It's more a short conversation.

    Xenogears of Bore on
    3DS CODE: 3093-7068-3576
  • DuffelDuffel jacobkosh Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Adus wrote: »
    "Time compression."

    It's pretty ridiculous and one if my issues with FF8. How do you even begin to explain that?
    The release deadline was fast approaching. I wouldn't be entirely surprised if "time compression" started out as some kind of in-joke.

    Duffel on
  • RenzoRenzo Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    LockeCole wrote: »
    FF X.

    For the record, FF VIII has no time travel, well not really at any rate. It does have a wacky plot involving stopping the progress of time though.

    Well there was the part where Squall goes back and gives Edna instructions on what she is going to do in the future. But the plot went stupid waaaaaaay before that.

    I guess. It's minor though and not the usual got to fix a mistake in the past sort of time wankery. It's more a short conversation.

    It actually makes the plot cyclical, which I thought was kind of cool.

    Renzo on
  • Xenogears of BoreXenogears of Bore Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    It does, but its not really central like the time Paradox from FF 1.

    Xenogears of Bore on
    3DS CODE: 3093-7068-3576
  • SynthesisSynthesis Honda Today! Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Sipex wrote: »
    Nocren wrote: »
    Lorahalo wrote: »
    Stopping on disc 2 of VIII means you missed the most hilariously stupid scene. As much as I love the game, it's completely and utterly ridiculous.
    All the characters grew up in the same orphanage and Edea was the matron. They all forgot because apparently GFs cause memory loss when you use them a lot, and only Selphie remembered because she only just started using them.

    No, I got that far. That's about where I threw the bullshit flag and turned off the playstation.

    Hey, it's my favourite scene to complain about!

    This is what totally made me lose all respect for the game although I'm sure every FF game has a point like this.

    Ah, man, this brought a tear back to my eye. I had totally put that out of my mind, and was wondering why I had such a negative attitude towards the game, besides not liking the characters or some of the art direction, etc. That couldn't be enough....

    Priceless!

    Synthesis on
  • kimekime Queen of Blades Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Synthesis wrote: »
    Sipex wrote: »
    Nocren wrote: »
    Lorahalo wrote: »
    Stopping on disc 2 of VIII means you missed the most hilariously stupid scene. As much as I love the game, it's completely and utterly ridiculous.
    All the characters grew up in the same orphanage and Edea was the matron. They all forgot because apparently GFs cause memory loss when you use them a lot, and only Selphie remembered because she only just started using them.

    No, I got that far. That's about where I threw the bullshit flag and turned off the playstation.

    Hey, it's my favourite scene to complain about!

    This is what totally made me lose all respect for the game although I'm sure every FF game has a point like this.

    Ah, man, this brought a tear back to my eye. I had totally put that out of my mind, and was wondering why I had such a negative attitude towards the game, besides not liking the characters or some of the art direction, etc. That couldn't be enough....

    Priceless!

    Since the topic has been brought up again, I'm curious. Is the hatred for this scene because the characters forgot each other/Edea/whatnot, or that they just happened to coincidentally all meet up at the same place being main characters, or what?

    kime on
    Battle.net ID: kime#1822
    3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
    Steam profile
  • SipexSipex Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    kime wrote: »
    Synthesis wrote: »
    Sipex wrote: »
    Nocren wrote: »
    Lorahalo wrote: »
    Stopping on disc 2 of VIII means you missed the most hilariously stupid scene. As much as I love the game, it's completely and utterly ridiculous.
    All the characters grew up in the same orphanage and Edea was the matron. They all forgot because apparently GFs cause memory loss when you use them a lot, and only Selphie remembered because she only just started using them.

    No, I got that far. That's about where I threw the bullshit flag and turned off the playstation.

    Hey, it's my favourite scene to complain about!

    This is what totally made me lose all respect for the game although I'm sure every FF game has a point like this.

    Ah, man, this brought a tear back to my eye. I had totally put that out of my mind, and was wondering why I had such a negative attitude towards the game, besides not liking the characters or some of the art direction, etc. That couldn't be enough....

    Priceless!

    Since the topic has been brought up again, I'm curious. Is the hatred for this scene because the characters forgot each other/Edea/whatnot, or that they just happened to coincidentally all meet up at the same place being main characters, or what?

    For me it was the combination of two elements:

    1) Oh hey, we COINCIDENTALLY teamed up even though we grew up together under the woman who we're now fighting against. This would totally be reasonable if we had been friends all along but we were split up, made seperate goals and forgot about each other but now our goals COINCIDENTALLY coincide and we all COINCIDENTALLY met up without even getting 1 straggler in the group.

    2) We FORGOT because our summons make people FORGET. This totally does not sound like it was hacked in after the fact. Nosiree, look, one of us still remembers.

    Sipex on
  • gjaustingjaustin Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    FF X.

    For the record, FF VIII has no time travel, well not really at any rate. It does have a wacky plot involving stopping the progress of time though.

    Well, FFX doesn't REALLY have time travel.

    gjaustin on
  • SynthesisSynthesis Honda Today! Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    On the subject of time travel--we're talking about actually moving back and forth through time, not just experience the past, right?

    FFVII has an absurd amount of "reliving the past", but no actual "time travel", as far as I can tell.

    Synthesis on
  • LockeColeLockeCole Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Sipex wrote: »
    kime wrote: »
    Synthesis wrote: »
    Sipex wrote: »
    Nocren wrote: »
    Lorahalo wrote: »
    Stopping on disc 2 of VIII means you missed the most hilariously stupid scene. As much as I love the game, it's completely and utterly ridiculous.
    All the characters grew up in the same orphanage and Edea was the matron. They all forgot because apparently GFs cause memory loss when you use them a lot, and only Selphie remembered because she only just started using them.

    No, I got that far. That's about where I threw the bullshit flag and turned off the playstation.

    Hey, it's my favourite scene to complain about!

    This is what totally made me lose all respect for the game although I'm sure every FF game has a point like this.

    Ah, man, this brought a tear back to my eye. I had totally put that out of my mind, and was wondering why I had such a negative attitude towards the game, besides not liking the characters or some of the art direction, etc. That couldn't be enough....

    Priceless!

    Since the topic has been brought up again, I'm curious. Is the hatred for this scene because the characters forgot each other/Edea/whatnot, or that they just happened to coincidentally all meet up at the same place being main characters, or what?

    For me it was the combination of two elements:

    1) Oh hey, we COINCIDENTALLY teamed up even though we grew up together under the woman who we're now fighting against. This would totally be reasonable if we had been friends all along but we were split up, made seperate goals and forgot about each other but now our goals COINCIDENTALLY coincide and we all COINCIDENTALLY met up without even getting 1 straggler in the group.

    2) We FORGOT because our summons make people FORGET. This totally does not sound like it was hacked in after the fact. Nosiree, look, one of us still remembers.

    I started writing a response like this and my brain just started sputtering at how frigging moronic it is, even by the 'clinched to hell and loving it' jrpg standards that I usually like.

    LockeCole on
  • LorahaloLorahalo Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Well when it comes to FF8, not so much travelling back and forth. For some reason, you decide that compressing every single point of time into one is a good idea (When you could just destroy the machine that does it before the villain gets her hands on it...)

    Lorahalo on
    I have a podcast about Digimon called the Digital Moncast, on Audio Entropy.
  • jeddy leejeddy lee Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Just hopping in to say listening to the Chrono Trigger sound track is reminding me how much of an emotional impact that game made on me. The feeling and outrage that the future was going to become what it was was something I could relate to the characters about. Truly the most epic game on the system. I always consider it to be the cooler, younger brother of the Final Fantasy series that took the classy route.

    I should play through Cross again.

    jeddy lee on
    Backlog Challenge: 0%
    0/8

    PS2
    FF X replay

    PS3
    God of War 1&2 HD
    Rachet and Clank Future
    MGS 4
    Prince of Persia

    360
    Bayonetta
    Fable 3

    DS
    FF: 4 heroes of light
  • jeddy leejeddy lee Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Just hopping in to say listening to the Chrono Trigger sound track is reminding me how much of an emotional impact that game made on me. The feeling and outrage that the future was going to become what it was was something I could relate to the characters about. Truly the most epic game on the system. I always consider it to be the cooler, younger brother of the Final Fantasy series that took the classy route.

    I should play through Cross again.

    jeddy lee on
    Backlog Challenge: 0%
    0/8

    PS2
    FF X replay

    PS3
    God of War 1&2 HD
    Rachet and Clank Future
    MGS 4
    Prince of Persia

    360
    Bayonetta
    Fable 3

    DS
    FF: 4 heroes of light
  • TransporterTransporter Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Sipex wrote: »
    kime wrote: »
    Synthesis wrote: »
    Sipex wrote: »
    Nocren wrote: »
    Lorahalo wrote: »
    Stopping on disc 2 of VIII means you missed the most hilariously stupid scene. As much as I love the game, it's completely and utterly ridiculous.
    All the characters grew up in the same orphanage and Edea was the matron. They all forgot because apparently GFs cause memory loss when you use them a lot, and only Selphie remembered because she only just started using them.

    No, I got that far. That's about where I threw the bullshit flag and turned off the playstation.

    Hey, it's my favourite scene to complain about!

    This is what totally made me lose all respect for the game although I'm sure every FF game has a point like this.

    Ah, man, this brought a tear back to my eye. I had totally put that out of my mind, and was wondering why I had such a negative attitude towards the game, besides not liking the characters or some of the art direction, etc. That couldn't be enough....

    Priceless!

    Since the topic has been brought up again, I'm curious. Is the hatred for this scene because the characters forgot each other/Edea/whatnot, or that they just happened to coincidentally all meet up at the same place being main characters, or what?

    For me it was the combination of two elements:

    1) Oh hey, we COINCIDENTALLY teamed up even though we grew up together under the woman who we're now fighting against. This would totally be reasonable if we had been friends all along but we were split up, made seperate goals and forgot about each other but now our goals COINCIDENTALLY coincide and we all COINCIDENTALLY met up without even getting 1 straggler in the group.

    2) We FORGOT because our summons make people FORGET. This totally does not sound like it was hacked in after the fact. Nosiree, look, one of us still remembers.

    I would have been fine with the whole summons making people forget things, if they goddamn followed up on it.

    Like goddamn at least make summons feed on memories, be evil, or fucking somthing. And then they kill them/enslave them and that's that.

    But no. It's just..."OH WELL!" and that's that.

    Transporter on
  • Zephyr_FateZephyr_Fate Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    there's also the theory that
    squall is dead and discs 2-4 are just his last dying fantasy
    this is actually backed up by evidence in-game as well

    Zephyr_Fate on
  • RustRust __BANNED USERS regular
    edited August 2010
    there's also the theory that
    squall is dead and discs 2-4 are just his last dying fantasy
    this is actually backed up by evidence in-game as well

    no it isn't

    it's just a hilarious little theory that is also one of the few ways to make FFVIII's story suck even more

    Rust on
  • kimekime Queen of Blades Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    there's also the theory that
    squall is dead and discs 2-4 are just his last dying fantasy
    this is actually backed up by evidence in-game as well
    'cept that was stated as being "interesting, but not actually what happened" by... someone at Square. Someone high up, I forget who, and that's not the exact quotation either. The theory is interesting though :P.
    Sipex wrote: »
    1) Oh hey, we COINCIDENTALLY teamed up even though we grew up together under the woman who we're now fighting against. This would totally be reasonable if we had been friends all along but we were split up, made seperate goals and forgot about each other but now our goals COINCIDENTALLY coincide and we all COINCIDENTALLY met up without even getting 1 straggler in the group.

    2) We FORGOT because our summons make people FORGET. This totally does not sound like it was hacked in after the fact. Nosiree, look, one of us still remembers.

    That's what I thought. So yeah, I don't really think it deserves all that hate. I mean, the first part is undeniably silly. But that just sounds like a classic fantasy trope. It's not an excuse for Square to do it, still.

    The second part I don't really get, though. Perhaps it was just more easily acceptable for me because I personally couldn't tell you the names or physical descriptions of any of my friends I had as a child. Or, well, anyone I knew as a kid that I don't still know. Even without the GF-amnesia thing, I don't find it all that unbelievable. But apparently that's just me :P.

    Would've been nice if it served any more of a point than just that, though.

    kime on
    Battle.net ID: kime#1822
    3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
    Steam profile
  • Zephyr_FateZephyr_Fate Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Rust wrote: »
    there's also the theory that
    squall is dead and discs 2-4 are just his last dying fantasy
    this is actually backed up by evidence in-game as well

    no it isn't

    it's just a hilarious little theory that is also one of the few ways to make FFVIII's story suck even more

    i don't know man GAF backed it up pretty well

    Zephyr_Fate on
  • Dr SnofeldDr Snofeld Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Well hey I fought Quale after all. Piss easy, alas, with the right status immunities.

    I love the ending to FFIX, incidentally.
    Vivi :(

    Dr Snofeld on
    l4d_sig.png
  • MattakuevanMattakuevan Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Dr Snofeld wrote: »
    Well hey I fought Quale after all. Piss easy, alas, with the right status immunities.

    I love the ending to FFIX, incidentally.
    Vivi :(

    Well, it is kind of the only complete ending in the series up to that point. So it's nice.

    Mattakuevan on
  • Xenogear_0001Xenogear_0001 Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Really now? You think the ending to FF IV wasn't complete? o_0

    I'll take your 'kind of' to mean IIRC. :D

    Xenogear_0001 on
    steam_sig.png
  • DuffelDuffel jacobkosh Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    FF3 and FF6 both had perfectly good endings. Back then the stories weren't so complicated they couldn't be resolved in a reasonably long cutscene.

    I really love the ending to FF6. It's kind of bittersweet, especially with what happens to
    Shadow.

    I would have liked to have seen a little more of the world after the endgame, though.

    Duffel on
  • PureauthorPureauthor Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    So to people who played both: Which has the dumber story, FFVIII or FFXIII?

    Pureauthor on
    SS FC: 1334 0950 5927
    Platinum FC: 2880 3245 5111
  • kimekime Queen of Blades Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Pureauthor wrote: »
    So to people who played both: Which has the dumber story, FFVIII or FFXIII?
    ....

    I kinda like them both :(. Hurray for strange opinions!

    kime on
    Battle.net ID: kime#1822
    3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
    Steam profile
  • AdusAdus Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    I dunno, VIII's has some really really dumb moments, but also some good ones. The first disc overall is actually really interesting. FFXIII is just kind of boring overall. Not as offensively dumb as VIII but doesn't have any interesting parts either except an FMV or two.

    I think strangely enough I'd play FFVIII again before XIII, but that may be because it's been so long. I doubt the gameplay has aged well.

    Adus on
  • urahonkyurahonky Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    So far I'm really enjoying XIII. Chapter 5 was really long, though. I'm on Chapter 6 and it's slightly annoying that I have maxed all my jobs already, and I don't even think I'm half way. Damn me and my grinding nature.

    urahonky on
  • ArkadyArkady Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Pureauthor wrote: »
    So to people who played both: Which has the dumber story, FFVIII or FFXIII?

    13 is my second favorite FF, 8 is my third. So I can safely say, 100% that 8's story is dumber by a large margin. 8 just goes off the deep end so far and so early, at least 13 has the decency to maintain a consistent narrative through most of the game, not really falling completely apart until the end of ch. 11.

    Also, I too would rather play 8 over 13 again. Much as I loved 13, going back to the earlier parts of the game once you've played the parts where the combat has opened up is not a pleasant thought.

    Arkady on
    untitled-1.jpg
    LoL: failboattootoot
  • XagarXagar Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    I would say VIII because "memory loss hurr" is kind of a cop-out. I like time travel though, for some reason, so that bit doesn't bother me. It was done in too much of a roundabout nonsensical way though.

    XIII is kind of feels like they just didn't put enough info in there for you to know the whole story, so it's kind of confusing (see Darksiders, Modern Warfare 2, Lost Planet 2, etc.).

    Also oh my I just remembered I never got around to actually killing Ozma and I ragequit Yiazmat after I decided not to burn a megalixir 2 hours in.

    Xagar on
Sign In or Register to comment.