FFVII was amazing, you fools. I'm not sure if it's aged well, but back then it blew my mind. It had characters you cared about, Cait Sith and Yuffie not included.
Fuck off
I think you mean Cait Sith and Vincent
Didn't realize there were Yuffie fans. Bitch stabs you in the back and leaves you without materia. She will never be forgiven.
Central to the JRPG are the characters long before the plot imo. That's why FF hasn't been good for almost a decade, FF XIII is really a new height of cringeworthy. I have not experienced such bad writing ever before in my gaming career, when playing the game it feels like an 8 year old read some books and wanted to mingle all the large themes that impressed him into a story and FF XIII was the pitifull result. Considering the desaster that is FF XIV the Final Fantasy brand is nothing but a bad joke these days.
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FFVII was good for one thing. AND ONE THING ONLY. Cid Highwind, playing him was such a blast. I wish I could have had 3 Cids in my party.
I like Triple Triad in VIII, whatever.
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Has the writing gotten worse or has it simply stayed at the same level while everything else got better around it I wonder. How bad or awkward would most of the dialogue sound if voice acted in ff4 or 6?
I'd concede that certainly the storylines seem to have gotten a lot more nonsensical post 7.
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Dark Raven XLaugh hard, run fast,be kindRegistered Userregular
VIII and IX are about the same amount of sense as VII!
And naw, XIII's writing is so much worse than the early games.
All things considered, the FF IV DS presentation was pretty damn good, awkward character presentation aside. Still, I think the Complete Collection version is perfect for making the GBA version all prettified and playable.
Don't worry though, pretty soon we'll have XIII-2 to pour all our scorn and disdain onto. Only a matter of time now. . .
You know, for all the talk of how great Elder Scrolls and DA lore is...
Well, Elder Scrolls: No one finishes these. With the advent of achievements in Oblivion, you an see that people just don't even bother. Maybe 4% ever finish the damn games because the main narrative is so poor/weak. sure, there is lore everywhere. Yet in the end the story you're following, while well written, tends to kind of suck/is pretty boring.
Same with DA. Hi, that game had the shittiest story past collecting the initial support. The ending was yawn worthy and not even worth remembering. Backstory be damned. DA2 then shows how hilariously out of touch they really are.
Mass Effect is a better example of a well developed story that actually has a good chunk of lore but is able to carry a main narrative without falling flat.
Though it has its flaws (useless summons, i'm looking at you). But besides that its going great. Though its taken until Disc 3 of 3 for the world to actually open up.
I'm running around Gran Pulse hunting down monsters. Gotta earn that CP bro.
Though it has its flaws (useless summons, i'm looking at you). But besides that its going great. Though its taken until Disc 3 of 3 for the world to actually open up.
I'm running around Gran Pulse hunting down monsters. Gotta earn that CP bro.
Summons have two very specialised uses - calling them heals (and resses?) your entire party, and the other one is disabling a type of very powerful foe instantly.
I dislike Final Fantasy because Xenoblade is everything I ever wished a modern Final Fantasy to be this generation, and more, except for being on an HD console and having to import the damn thing.
I also dislike Final Fantasy because Versus XIII will never come out and needs to be renamed to lose the XIII.
And I dislike that we'll never get Type-0 in the west as good as it is and I'll have to wait for the eventual fan translation years later.
Though it has its flaws (useless summons, i'm looking at you). But besides that its going great. Though its taken until Disc 3 of 3 for the world to actually open up.
I'm running around Gran Pulse hunting down monsters. Gotta earn that CP bro.
Summons have two very specialised uses - calling them heals (and resses?) your entire party, and the other one is disabling a type of very powerful foe instantly.
I hate Final Fantasy XI because I named the chick after my ex girlfriend before we broke up. Then at some point in the game there is a faux wedding thing with the main dude, who I named after me, and the chick.
I never want to load that save again and it's too far into the game to start over. So the game is garbage for doing that to me.
FFX is my favorite. I've always really enjoyed it. And I think that's mostly because of the number of options I had for my party. I loved the Sphere Grid. It's intimidating at first, but once you get the hang of it, it's incredibly versatile. Essentially, there's this enormous grid, and each character starts in the section they're "supposed" to be in (Yuna has access to all the White Magic, Auron's the tank, etc), but you can break through locks in the grid at certain areas, so that characters can start developing along a different curve.
Are you big on Stealing shit? Have Tidus learn the skill by breaking into Rikku's section. Or maybe you want him to be a bit more of protector, like Auron? Makes sense, since he's got an incredibly high natural dodge rating, which is only boosted by the items he gains. So yeah, you can do that. Lulu can learn some healing, so she can fill in for Yuna in a pinch, and Yuna can do learn black magic for the same reason. You can really be creative with it.
And then some characters, like Kimahri, are blank slates. They start in the middle of the grid, and you can take him in whatever direction you'd like.
I think that's great.
They tried something similar in XII ans XIII, and failed miserably, in my opinion. The License Board sucked through a straw (I had the PAL version, but I heard the American one was better). Basically, everyone had the same board. They all unlocked the same shit. And the characters didn't have anything that made them unique in the first place. Like, even if Lulu learned White Magic, she still couldn't summon -- that was what Yuna was for. Or, even if Auron learned how to inflict all of Wakka's status effects, he still wouldn't have Wakka's bonus damage vs. fliers. Stats like that made each character unique and special to the party. In FFXII, choosing who you wanted on your squad was largely a question of ... which three people you thought looked the coolest.
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Which obviously always included Balthier.
I actually really enjoyed XII, although I can't exactly put my finger on why. But yeah the license board thing was pretty lame, I think they changed it for the updated japanese version or something?
Also features something of a pet peeve of mine; when your RPGs only got 6 playable characters let me use them all! Especially when they'll all end up with the best spells anyway.
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Baroque And RollEvery spark of friendship and loveWill die without a homeRegistered Userregular
Love it because, at the time, it was absolutely amazing. The CGI was the coolest thing I had ever seen. That sounds so laughable now, but no other game—hell, no other movie—looked as cool as FF7. It wasn't even just the cutscenes; the backgrounds were also masterpieces. Bear in mind that there wasn't all this exposure to anime aesthetics at the time so it seemed even more novel. Sephiroth was a total badass. There will never be a cutscene as resonant as the one where he is walking through the flames with his bigass Masamune for me. The story, while in retrospect not as well-told or original as others in the series, was pretty damn cool. I mean it was the first videogame with a corporation as a villain; it was modern in ways that no other RPG stories were. (EDIT Yes I know about Earthbound I never got to play it!)
Hate it because I think it marked the death-knell of the series' balance and integration between storytelling and gameplay. The SNES games (well, 4 and 6) just feel right. They are videogames with great stories. The story works together with the interactive gameplay in often whimsical but never awkward or head-smacking ways. Maybe that's nostalgia talking. But every FF game after 7 has felt like two separate experiences. You have your hour of beautiful CGI cutscenes, you have increasingly linear exploration, and then you have the core battle gameplay which can basically exist all on its own.
I also hate it because with one exception (FF9) every game after FF7 has stupidly embraced this ultra-realistic aesthetic that to me is just creepy looking uncanny valley in the end. I miss the whimsy and unrealistic weirdness of the Amano-era art design.
And also the gameplay was sort of broken and the ending was dumb.
Square has indeed made up a lot of fantastic stuff but then they continually throw it away for the next game. (and thus they should maintain only two basic settings and expand on them)
I disagree! I love getting me a whole new setting in every Final Fantasy game; it's one of the main reasons I play the games. Even FF13 ... I hated that game's story, its plot and its characters. I even hated the way its setting was presented. But its setting was super cool! A floating hollowed out planet above another planet, with magic robot trees and high-tech cities and stuff? It was pretty consistently awesome to explore Cocoon and Pulse and just see the sights.
What I would like is if they varied the tropes along with the setting. I am sick of summoned monsters and chocobos, and I'm sure they're increasingly difficult to shoehorn into whatever new setting the designers dream up.
Though it has its flaws (useless summons, i'm looking at you). But besides that its going great. Though its taken until Disc 3 of 3 for the world to actually open up.
I'm running around Gran Pulse hunting down monsters. Gotta earn that CP bro.
Summons have two very specialised uses - calling them heals (and resses?) your entire party, and the other one is disabling a type of very powerful foe instantly.
Also they can be used to break the monotony.
Oh yeah, they do revive your party and heal them. But to be honest, I find it better to use Libra, find their weakness, go tri-disaster, stagger them relentless assault them to death.
It was pretty consistently awesome to explore Cocoon and Pulse and just see the sights.
The problem with Cocoon is that it's a corridor and the problem with Pulse is that it's dead. There's this great bit at the end of the intro movie where Lightning stares in awe at this giant dandelion (with the implication that it's because she's from Cocoon where everything is ordered, static and structured and this kind of natural beauty is strange and amazing to her), but Pulse in the game does not deliver. Cocoon has areas more fantastical than Pulse.
That said... I've been replaying XIII while waiting for Zelda and SR3 and I kinda like the battle system. Or at least, I like it in those fights where switching roles on the fly is useful.
FFVII was amazing, you fools. I'm not sure if it's aged well, but back then it blew my mind. It had characters you cared about, Cait Sith and Yuffie not included.
Fuck off
I think you mean Cait Sith and Vincent
Didn't realize there were Yuffie fans. Bitch stabs you in the back and leaves you without materia. She will never be forgiven.
Vincent was a cool guy, with his pointy shoes.
To be fair, I think Yuffie doesn't always steal all your materia. She only steals a certain amount and leaves any after that amount. So if you have over that amount, it's possible to sort your list so that you still have some good ones left and can make that section of the game a cake walk.
FFVII was amazing, you fools. I'm not sure if it's aged well, but back then it blew my mind. It had characters you cared about, Cait Sith and Yuffie not included.
Fuck off
I think you mean Cait Sith and Vincent
Didn't realize there were Yuffie fans. Bitch stabs you in the back and leaves you without materia. She will never be forgiven.
Vincent was a cool guy, with his pointy shoes.
To be fair, I think Yuffie doesn't always steal all your materia. She only steals a certain amount and leaves any after that amount. So if you have over that amount, it's possible to sort your list so that you still have some good ones left and can make that section of the game a cake walk.
Plus, she has no need to brood unhappily. Yuffie's good in my book.
The problem with Cocoon is that it's a corridor and the problem with Pulse is that it's dead. There's this great bit at the end of the intro movie where Lightning stares in awe at this giant dandelion (with the implication that it's because she's from Cocoon where everything is ordered, static and structured and this kind of natural beauty is strange and amazing to her), but Pulse in the game does not deliver. Cocoon has areas more fantastical than Pulse.
That said... I've been replaying XIII while waiting for Zelda and SR3 and I kinda like the battle system. Or at least, I like it in those fights where switching roles on the fly is useful.
Yeah I agree that the scenery didn't match the storytelling too well in FF13. I just meant that the places in that game were really purty, apart from their context.
I also loved FF13's battle system. I can understand not liking the hand-holding. But I would still rather play the first 20 hours of FF13 battles than almost any other Final Fantasy game's battles.
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ZarathustraEckUbermenschnow with stripes!Registered Userregular
In response to the comments that FFVII hasn't aged well (and it really hasn't, from a graphics standpoint)...
Is there a way to enable hardware rendering on a PC with modern cards? It looked better back in the day on whatever the hell card I had in my dinosaur Compaq Presario than it does now with software rendering.
Oh...FF13's crafting system is so retarded. I kind of like FF12's take on it. Until you realize you can screw yourself so easily if you sell things in the wrong order.
We know you're hungry to see more of FINAL FANTASY XIII-2, so today we're releasing a new batch of screenshots. These screens show off the improved Crystarium system. Here you can see the growth route of your characters and, using points gained in battle, improve your stats and gain new abilities.
We've also got a couple of shots from the game's cutscenes. What does fate have in store for Lightning and Serah and why is Caius, who used to be Noel's friend and mentor, fighting against him now?
You may also notice a screenshot taken from a battle, in which a Flanbanero is decked out in sunglasses. This is just one of the many monster adornments which you can find and equip your monsters with. They don't improve your monsters' stats or abilities, but they can make them look a lot cooler in battle.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments section below. We'll be showing you much more of the game as we approach the European release in February.
I like more Final Fantasies to have extra combat interaction in battle. Classic button timings that gain you an extra attack or protection from damage will always occupy my mind and make RPGs less tedious.
I think I want a battle system like Zell's limit breaks.
They tried something similar in XII ans XIII, and failed miserably, in my opinion. The License Board sucked through a straw (I had the PAL version, but I heard the American one was better). Basically, everyone had the same board. They all unlocked the same shit. And the characters didn't have anything that made them unique in the first place. Like, even if Lulu learned White Magic, she still couldn't summon -- that was what Yuna was for. Or, even if Auron learned how to inflict all of Wakka's status effects, he still wouldn't have Wakka's bonus damage vs. fliers. Stats like that made each character unique and special to the party. In FFXII, choosing who you wanted on your squad was largely a question of ... which three people you thought looked the coolest.
Except ultimately the best FFX party is Tidus/Wakka/Rikku because they're the only people who can fight underwater. For endgame stuff like boss hunts, you should be building those three more than anyone else, because you're going to need them.
RE: FFXII: Each character had different stats and the like. In the end this made certain people excel at certain things. The US version had the same generic board, they then remade it in Japan under the "Zodiac Job System' re-tread which made you choose specific zodiac themed boards for your characters. Which then locked them into certain archtypes that they could never get out of. Which did make the game far more interesting, except you then had to know your characters stats ahead of time if you were trying to min/max to really plumb the endgame. I think which you chose also effected which summons each person could access.
I like more Final Fantasies to have extra combat interaction in battle. Classic button timings that gain you an extra attack or protection from damage will always occupy my mind and make RPGs less tedious.
I think I want a battle system like Zell's limit breaks.
Ehh, I don't like those myself. They always end up such that either the game is too easy if you're good at them or too hard if you're bad.
Edit: Ha, I almost mentioned Super Mario RPG myself. I've beaten that game with so many different imposed challenges. My favorite, of course, is not doing any timed hits. Because do I really need to one-shot bosses with a 70+ Super Jump chain?
gjaustin on
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Dark Raven XLaugh hard, run fast,be kindRegistered Userregular
Except ultimately the best FFX party is Tidus/Wakka/Rikku because they're the only people who can fight underwater. For endgame stuff like boss hunts, you should be building those three more than anyone else, because you're going to need them.
Yep. In fact one of the ultimate boss things in the Monster Arena is underwater. If you haven't maxed out Tidus Wakka and Rikku, you're ballsed.
Also, when everyone has gone all the way around the Sphere Grid, they all deal 99999 with each attack. Wakka is the one who best makes use of it, with his INSANE Overdrive that deals what, a couple million?
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Vincent was a cool guy, with his pointy shoes.
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I like Triple Triad in VIII, whatever.
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I'd concede that certainly the storylines seem to have gotten a lot more nonsensical post 7.
And naw, XIII's writing is so much worse than the early games.
All things considered, the FF IV DS presentation was pretty damn good, awkward character presentation aside. Still, I think the Complete Collection version is perfect for making the GBA version all prettified and playable.
Don't worry though, pretty soon we'll have XIII-2 to pour all our scorn and disdain onto. Only a matter of time now. . .
Well, Elder Scrolls: No one finishes these. With the advent of achievements in Oblivion, you an see that people just don't even bother. Maybe 4% ever finish the damn games because the main narrative is so poor/weak. sure, there is lore everywhere. Yet in the end the story you're following, while well written, tends to kind of suck/is pretty boring.
Same with DA. Hi, that game had the shittiest story past collecting the initial support. The ending was yawn worthy and not even worth remembering. Backstory be damned. DA2 then shows how hilariously out of touch they really are.
Mass Effect is a better example of a well developed story that actually has a good chunk of lore but is able to carry a main narrative without falling flat.
I do not feel bad about either of these
They are simply not worth my time
They are not even worth the effort of sticking the disc into the system ever again
Crystal Bearers was also surprisingly enjoyable, though not great
Though it has its flaws (useless summons, i'm looking at you). But besides that its going great. Though its taken until Disc 3 of 3 for the world to actually open up.
Then we could pit mice against pythons in a battle to the death
Summons have two very specialised uses - calling them heals (and resses?) your entire party, and the other one is disabling a type of very powerful foe instantly.
I also dislike Final Fantasy because Versus XIII will never come out and needs to be renamed to lose the XIII.
And I dislike that we'll never get Type-0 in the west as good as it is and I'll have to wait for the eventual fan translation years later.
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Also they can be used to break the monotony.
I never want to load that save again and it's too far into the game to start over. So the game is garbage for doing that to me.
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Are you big on Stealing shit? Have Tidus learn the skill by breaking into Rikku's section. Or maybe you want him to be a bit more of protector, like Auron? Makes sense, since he's got an incredibly high natural dodge rating, which is only boosted by the items he gains. So yeah, you can do that. Lulu can learn some healing, so she can fill in for Yuna in a pinch, and Yuna can do learn black magic for the same reason. You can really be creative with it.
And then some characters, like Kimahri, are blank slates. They start in the middle of the grid, and you can take him in whatever direction you'd like.
I think that's great.
They tried something similar in XII ans XIII, and failed miserably, in my opinion. The License Board sucked through a straw (I had the PAL version, but I heard the American one was better). Basically, everyone had the same board. They all unlocked the same shit. And the characters didn't have anything that made them unique in the first place. Like, even if Lulu learned White Magic, she still couldn't summon -- that was what Yuna was for. Or, even if Auron learned how to inflict all of Wakka's status effects, he still wouldn't have Wakka's bonus damage vs. fliers. Stats like that made each character unique and special to the party. In FFXII, choosing who you wanted on your squad was largely a question of ... which three people you thought looked the coolest.
I actually really enjoyed XII, although I can't exactly put my finger on why. But yeah the license board thing was pretty lame, I think they changed it for the updated japanese version or something?
Also features something of a pet peeve of mine; when your RPGs only got 6 playable characters let me use them all! Especially when they'll all end up with the best spells anyway.
the rest were in the low 20's.
How ever did I get by, you ask?
I didn't die.
Ever.
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Love it because, at the time, it was absolutely amazing. The CGI was the coolest thing I had ever seen. That sounds so laughable now, but no other game—hell, no other movie—looked as cool as FF7. It wasn't even just the cutscenes; the backgrounds were also masterpieces. Bear in mind that there wasn't all this exposure to anime aesthetics at the time so it seemed even more novel. Sephiroth was a total badass. There will never be a cutscene as resonant as the one where he is walking through the flames with his bigass Masamune for me. The story, while in retrospect not as well-told or original as others in the series, was pretty damn cool. I mean it was the first videogame with a corporation as a villain; it was modern in ways that no other RPG stories were. (EDIT Yes I know about Earthbound I never got to play it!)
Hate it because I think it marked the death-knell of the series' balance and integration between storytelling and gameplay. The SNES games (well, 4 and 6) just feel right. They are videogames with great stories. The story works together with the interactive gameplay in often whimsical but never awkward or head-smacking ways. Maybe that's nostalgia talking. But every FF game after 7 has felt like two separate experiences. You have your hour of beautiful CGI cutscenes, you have increasingly linear exploration, and then you have the core battle gameplay which can basically exist all on its own.
I also hate it because with one exception (FF9) every game after FF7 has stupidly embraced this ultra-realistic aesthetic that to me is just creepy looking uncanny valley in the end. I miss the whimsy and unrealistic weirdness of the Amano-era art design.
And also the gameplay was sort of broken and the ending was dumb.
I disagree! I love getting me a whole new setting in every Final Fantasy game; it's one of the main reasons I play the games. Even FF13 ... I hated that game's story, its plot and its characters. I even hated the way its setting was presented. But its setting was super cool! A floating hollowed out planet above another planet, with magic robot trees and high-tech cities and stuff? It was pretty consistently awesome to explore Cocoon and Pulse and just see the sights.
What I would like is if they varied the tropes along with the setting. I am sick of summoned monsters and chocobos, and I'm sure they're increasingly difficult to shoehorn into whatever new setting the designers dream up.
Oh yeah, they do revive your party and heal them. But to be honest, I find it better to use Libra, find their weakness, go tri-disaster, stagger them relentless assault them to death.
But it does get boring after awhile.
The problem with Cocoon is that it's a corridor and the problem with Pulse is that it's dead. There's this great bit at the end of the intro movie where Lightning stares in awe at this giant dandelion (with the implication that it's because she's from Cocoon where everything is ordered, static and structured and this kind of natural beauty is strange and amazing to her), but Pulse in the game does not deliver. Cocoon has areas more fantastical than Pulse.
That said... I've been replaying XIII while waiting for Zelda and SR3 and I kinda like the battle system. Or at least, I like it in those fights where switching roles on the fly is useful.
To be fair, I think Yuffie doesn't always steal all your materia. She only steals a certain amount and leaves any after that amount. So if you have over that amount, it's possible to sort your list so that you still have some good ones left and can make that section of the game a cake walk.
Plus, she has no need to brood unhappily. Yuffie's good in my book.
I also loved FF13's battle system. I can understand not liking the hand-holding. But I would still rather play the first 20 hours of FF13 battles than almost any other Final Fantasy game's battles.
Is there a way to enable hardware rendering on a PC with modern cards? It looked better back in the day on whatever the hell card I had in my dinosaur Compaq Presario than it does now with software rendering.
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I stuck with Lightning, upgrading everything she owned. And then she got taken away from me for half the game.
But I did like how the ultimate weapons could be made from any of the weapon sets. But in name only, since they all had different stats.
PROTIP: Take the Sword in all non Advance Versions. Take the Shard in FF VIa.
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Just gonna say it now.
XIII-2 looks bad.
And I don't mean graphically. I just get that immense, inexplicable dread feel looking at those screenshots.
I think I want a battle system like Zell's limit breaks.
RE: FFXII: Each character had different stats and the like. In the end this made certain people excel at certain things. The US version had the same generic board, they then remade it in Japan under the "Zodiac Job System' re-tread which made you choose specific zodiac themed boards for your characters. Which then locked them into certain archtypes that they could never get out of. Which did make the game far more interesting, except you then had to know your characters stats ahead of time if you were trying to min/max to really plumb the endgame. I think which you chose also effected which summons each person could access.
Ehh, I don't like those myself. They always end up such that either the game is too easy if you're good at them or too hard if you're bad.
Edit: Ha, I almost mentioned Super Mario RPG myself. I've beaten that game with so many different imposed challenges. My favorite, of course, is not doing any timed hits. Because do I really need to one-shot bosses with a 70+ Super Jump chain?
Yep. In fact one of the ultimate boss things in the Monster Arena is underwater. If you haven't maxed out Tidus Wakka and Rikku, you're ballsed.
Also, when everyone has gone all the way around the Sphere Grid, they all deal 99999 with each attack. Wakka is the one who best makes use of it, with his INSANE Overdrive that deals what, a couple million?
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