# Final Fantasy frenzy



## peppygrowlithe (Nov 16, 2012)

I want to open up a general Final Fantasy post. Talk about any game in the series you like, from the big popular ones to the lesser known ones (poor underrated FF9). Latch on to any or all of these conversation starters or (recommended) start your own.


FF1: As much as I love the remakes of this game, there's something soul-redeeming about being able to make it through the Marsh Cave in the very original. 

FF2: More games should encourage you to beat the living crap out of your own party members. Also, Guy speak beaver.

FF3: Arc and Prince Alus had a thing, right? I'm not the only one who sees the homoerotic undertone of their interactions, yeah?

FF4: You ever think Rosa and Kain had a fling?

FF5: I think a prequel to this game, with the original four heroes (including that badass wolf guy), would be major fun. Keep the class system and everything.

FF6: If you got all optional characters, you can have a party of up to 14 people when you enter Kefka's Tower. You split up into three groups of four, meaning two people get left out. Who are they and why?

FF7: All things considered, who had the coolest limit breaks? As much as I wish I could say Red XIII, my vote is for Vincent, because berserking or not, turning into some bloodthirsty hellspawn from beyond the underworld is too cool to ignore.

FF8: I must admit this is my least favorite in the series (<- that's something to discuss too!), but it got one thing better than any game before or after: Summons. The graphics are great for their time, and they're creative and original. Even future games, with improved graphics, don't have the same sheer charm and distinction. Leviathan still blows my mind.

FF9: More games should have animal people, like hippos and rats, just running around selling pickles or whatever.

FF10: I love Kimahri (I'm sure I'm not alone here), but it's true that it's hard to find a niche for him. Would it not have made more sense for him and Wakka to switch starting positions on the sphere grid (perhaps with some modifications, such as moving Lancet)? Kimahri's a huge hulking lion with a spear, who learns from monsters (which would tie into using Wakka's status effect attacks perfectly). Aesthetically, he could easily fit the role of "strongest physical attacker". Conversely, Wakka uses a sporting weapon, and he's spent enough time around his Blitzball teammates, Yuna, and Lulu that he could easily fulfil a versatile role. Regardless of what path you take him down, he'd still be useful in taking out flying enemies for at least part of the game, if not all of it.

FF11: Fond memories, or a painful experience?

FF12: All right. We get the power to boot out a couple of the Humes in the group and replace them with someone from one of the other races (Seeq, Bangaa, Moogle, or another Viera - if you really want, we could open up Gria and Nu Mou too, even Garif). Who are you kicking out (if anyone), and what are you replacing them with?

FF13: Fang's my favorite character by a long shot, but she seems to be the most ignored. She got the smallest part of the six in the sequel. Vanille was close, but she was also the narrator in the first. What's up with that?

FF14: I know almost nothing about this game, except it was recently rebooted and the races look a lot like the ones from FF11. Anybody care to enlighten?


~peppygrowlithe


----------



## NaxThewolf (mike) (Nov 16, 2012)

I wish i played these games :L


----------



## peppygrowlithe (Nov 16, 2012)

NaxThewolf (mike) said:


> I wish i played these games :L



It's never too late, amigo. If you'd like suggestions, I'm sure I'm not the only one who would be able to help you out with a good starting point, depending on what systems you have/grew up on, other games you like, and so forth.


----------



## NightWolf20 (Nov 16, 2012)

I've played VIII, X, and (the best) Tactics. Tactics was just great. A little complex for me at first, since I was about 8 when I played it, but still a solid game. Go into battle with 2 ninjas, a monk, and samurai, and Orlandu. You win 100% of the time.


----------



## peppygrowlithe (Nov 16, 2012)

Tactics was amazing! I beat War of the Lions for the third time or so about a month ago. So brutally hard in the beginning.

Did you play any of the Advance games? They aren't quite as difficult, but they're very fun and quite long. Also, furries. Well, scalies. I think the Nu Mou are doglike though.


----------



## NaxThewolf (mike) (Nov 16, 2012)

peppygrowlithe said:


> It's never too late, amigo. If you'd like suggestions, I'm sure I'm not the only one who would be able to help you out with a good starting point, depending on what systems you have/grew up on, other games you like, and so forth.


I have a pc and it can take skyrim in high detail grapics and i grew up useing the playstation and nintendo 64 if i can get the games for pc that would be epic.


----------



## peppygrowlithe (Nov 16, 2012)

Rad. Well, for PC, there's FF11 and FF14. Those are MMOs, and the former is pretty dated.

However, on the Square-Enix site, they just released a downloadable FF7 a couple months ago. It's $10. FF7 is widely considered the best in the series - it's certainly the most popular. If you didn't grow up in the Playstation 1 era, the graphics might seem a little (read: VERY) dated compared to something like Skyrim, but if you don't mind some blocky pixelated goodness, it's definitely worth your time. Plus, you get a cool wolf/lion dude as well as a cat riding a marshmallow as party members. If that doesn't convince ya, I don't know what will!


----------



## NaxThewolf (mike) (Nov 16, 2012)

peppygrowlithe said:


> Rad. Well, for PC, there's FF11 and FF14. Those are MMOs, and the former is pretty dated.
> 
> However, on the Square-Enix site, they just released a downloadable FF7 a couple months ago. It's $10. FF7 is widely considered the best in the series - it's certainly the most popular. If you didn't grow up in the Playstation 1 era, the graphics might seem a little (read: VERY) dated compared to something like Skyrim, but if you don't mind some blocky pixelated goodness, it's definitely worth your time. Plus, you get a cool wolf/lion dude as well as a cat riding a marshmallow as party members. If that doesn't convince ya, I don't know what will!


Epic and iam an old school gamer  dino crises doom halflife zelda etc....


----------



## NightWolf20 (Nov 16, 2012)

peppygrowlithe said:


> Tactics was amazing! I beat War of the Lions for the third time or so about a month ago. So brutally hard in the beginning.
> 
> Did you play any of the Advance games? They aren't quite as difficult, but they're very fun and quite long. Also, furries. Well, scalies. I think the Nu Mou are doglike though.



Never played the Advance games. Had a GBA (got it from my uncle for Christmas way back when), but I couldn't see it well enough to read the onscreen text. :/


----------



## lupinealchemist (Nov 16, 2012)

I have FFT Advance. Making Marche learn the Blue Mage skill Damage to MP makes a particular main story battle impossible to lose.
In the end he also had the three dragon buffs, strike back and duel wield. His melee skills were very overpowered. 

I have FF7 and FF9, which I have to play from my pc's disc drive via emulator cause my ps2 died.


----------



## peppygrowlithe (Nov 16, 2012)

lupinealchemist said:


> I have FFT Advance. Making Marche learn  the Blue Mage skill Damage to MP makes a particular main story battle  impossible to lose.
> In the end he also had the three dragon buffs, strike back and duel wield. His melee skills were very overpowered.
> 
> I have FF7 and FF9, which I have to play from my pc's disc drive via emulator cause my ps2 died.



Bet he eviscerated Babus into tiny little shreds of dogmeat in that 1v1, eh?

Cheers for old school gamers. What our older games lacked in realistic graphics, they made up for in no load times. X)


----------



## lupinealchemist (Nov 16, 2012)

peppygrowlithe said:


> Bet he eviscerated Babus into tiny little shreds of dogmeat in that 1v1, eh?
> 
> Cheers for old school gamers. What our older games lacked in realistic graphics, they made up for in no load times. X)


This was post Babus. I was talking about the 1v1 against that one immortal asshole where you only have to survive his omega spamming for a number of turns. Damage to MP protects all your HP at the cost of MP damage even if you just have 1 MP, and since everyone regenerates 5 MP after a full turn and there's only you and him, you're invincible.


----------



## peppygrowlithe (Nov 16, 2012)

lupinealchemist said:


> This was post Babus. I was talking about the 1v1 against that one immortal asshole where you only have to survive his omega spamming for a number of turns. Damage to MP protects all your HP at the cost of MP damage even if you just have 1 MP, and since everyone regenerates 5 MP after a full turn and there's only you and him, you're invincible.




Heh! Yeah, I remember that ability being very useful in the first game. It's not quite as broken in the sequel, but it's still a pretty darn good ability.

Second only to Critical: Berserk.


----------



## Tao (Nov 16, 2012)

I'm playing FF9 for the first time. I just made it to Ipsen's Castle, made it a little ways through and died because of those annoying enemies. Y'know, the magic using ones that come with a Gargoyle? Those, oh god :C

I also LOVE Steiner but Freya's better. Unfortunately.


----------



## veeno (Nov 16, 2012)

Final fantasy 1 is still my favorite.

Its my childhood.


----------



## thoron (Nov 16, 2012)

I've played 1 through 13 except for 3 (Never released in the US in its original format and its on a platform I don't have), as well as 5 and 6, I want to play them so bad, but I need to find the PS1 versions since I still have my PS2. Even Played Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest (Good story, but extremely linear), and Final Fantasy Tactics (The original for PS1 version).

How I wish that 11 had an off line version where I could play it like a traditional RPG and be in control of a party and not have to work with others. I've never been that intersted in the whole "Make your own story" RPG type.


----------



## peppygrowlithe (Nov 17, 2012)

Tao said:


> I'm playing FF9 for the first time. I just made it to Ipsen's Castle, made it a little ways through and died because of those annoying enemies. Y'know, the magic using ones that come with a Gargoyle? Those, oh god :C
> 
> I also LOVE Steiner but Freya's better. Unfortunately.



Yeah, that part's a pain. But chin up, you got this. I also like Steiner a lot. He's a very loveable spaz. 

Really, the only character I didn't like was Qu. Nothing about the personality or anything (I think the idea of a bizarre monster who eats frogs is pretty funny). His/her face just really gives me the oogies!



veeno said:


> Final fantasy 1 is still my favorite.
> 
> Its my childhood.



I've played each of 'em except 14, and FF1 is still my second favorite of the whole batch. The concept of "roll a party that can't be changed after you start the game" isn't a concept that we're likely to see again anytime soon, but it adds an element of distinction to each and every game. If you went for three monks and a red mage, you're going to have a very different experience than fighter/thief/white mage/black mage. It adds some real replay value. Plus, Nintendo Hard.




thoron said:


> I've played 1 through 13 except for 3 (Never released in the US in its original format and its on a platform I don't have), as well as 5 and 6, I want to play them so bad, but I need to find the PS1 versions since I still have my PS2. Even Played Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest (Good story, but extremely linear), and Final Fantasy Tactics (The original for PS1 version).
> 
> How I wish that 11 had an off line version where I could play it like a traditional RPG and be in control of a party and not have to work with others. I've never been that intersted in the whole "Make your own story" RPG type.



I agree with you about 11. I also wish there was an offline version!

Mystic Quest may have been simplistic, but it had something huge going for it. What a kickass soundtrack! The battle theme is still one of my favorites of any video game. The "gah-jew-DWINE" sound effect of the hookshot is also particularly memorable.

And you're right, it has pretty clever twist at the end, and the story's written style is solid. Mostly due to Ted Woolsey, who did the best he could with what he had. (He also did the translation work for the FF3/6 SNES version. This guy rocks!)


----------



## FreedomXJustice (Nov 17, 2012)

Ahhh FINAL FANTASY VII and VIII were the first ones I played, taking up a lot of my childhood. <3 Yes, i'm one of those people that actually LIKED VIII, it's my favorite in the series. I admit the junction system was incredibly unbalanced though, but it was the overall concept of the game I favored among the others. IX became my second, the music in that game is still my favorite from the series. X took up most of my elementary school days, and despite X-2 having an annoying candy-pop theme, I did find it fun lol... However I never got into XI, I always thought it should of been named "FINAL FANTASY: Online" or something, considering it was an MMORPG, which I didn't care for those to begin with. XII wasn't my thing either, it did really good from what i've heard in reviews though but I didn't really like it, the characters, music, battle system, it was all so foreign and just wasn't in my taste. The story I didn't find really good either, though I found the interactions between the characters in cutscenes to be really amazing, they were like real people. XIII... I didn't really find too much to be wrong with it, but at the same time there just wasn't enough right. XIII-2 helped, but I just didn't really find the overall direction XIII took to be that appealing. And I have nothing to say on XIV, since I haven't played it, but it's another MMORPG so I probably won't bother with it. I do have very high hopes for Versus XIII, despite it labeled vaporware atm. Still, it's said to be the darkest game in the series, and I find the more disturbing the plot, the more relatable it is to the real world...which is what they are going for.


----------



## peppygrowlithe (Nov 17, 2012)

XII took me a long time to appreciate. I dropped it three or four times before finally sticking with it. It does take a lot of getting used to, and the battle system isn't one of my favorite. But once your characters start distinguishing themselves and developing in different ways, and once you start getting useful magic (oh Bubble, how I love thee), the game picks up significantly. I also like the long stretches of combat inbetween plot points. As much as I love FFX and FFXIII, the stop-go-stop-go-stop-go can grate on one after a while. XII did have a lot of story, but it had enough gameplay to balance it, which is something the franchise had been shying away from since the PSX era.

FFVIII is going on a similar route. The more I play it, the more I do enjoy it. (I just got Cerberus, so I think that's near the end of disc 2?) The summons are amazingly cool, as I've said, and the mini-games are generally fun. Rerouting trains, playing cards, _punching and kicking a guy to death while hanging from a flying mecha_ - pretty exciting.


----------



## Imperial Impact (Nov 17, 2012)

Let's blitz


ya.


----------



## Ranguvar (Nov 17, 2012)

Imperial Impact said:


> Let's blitz
> 
> 
> ya.



Let's not. Wakka is suck a tool.


----------



## Imperial Impact (Nov 17, 2012)

Green_Knight said:


> Let's not. Wakka is suck a tool.







YA.


----------



## lupinealchemist (Nov 18, 2012)

Now you all got me playing IX again. Epsxe is pretty decent at playing my game discs.

I imagine Baku and Regent Cid are voiced by John Dimaggio. :3


----------



## benignBiotic (Nov 18, 2012)

Shiz, I could talk about Final Fantasy all day, but these thoughts spring to mind:



Final Fantasy 9 is my favorite for the art style, throwback gameplay, and characters. 
I insist that FFVIII has the best soundtrack of any. One of my more favorite games in the series. 
I love Tactics but the slowness of battles and silliness of the last part of the story sort of turned me off. Tactics Advanced is great though. Races, jorbs, and a ton of content. 
In fact I love all of the games based in Ivalice. I know XII is very polarizing, I fucking love it. 
FFVII is really overrated, but that doesn't mean it's not an EXCELLENT game. 
I find FFV is really underrated.


----------



## Judge Spear (Nov 18, 2012)

Really liked Echoes of Time and 13.


----------



## Tao (Nov 19, 2012)

peppygrowlithe said:


> Yeah, that part's a pain. But chin up, you got this. I also like Steiner a lot. He's a very loveable spaz.
> 
> Really, the only character I didn't like was Qu. Nothing about the personality or anything (I think the idea of a bizarre monster who eats frogs is pretty funny). His/her face just really gives me the oogies!



Have you ever seen Quina in his/her trance form? Only the dead can know peace from this evil.


----------



## peppygrowlithe (Nov 19, 2012)

benignBiotic said:


> Shiz, I could talk about Final Fantasy all day, but these thoughts spring to mind:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I can really get behind some of these opinions. I particularly agree with the comment on Ivalice. It's an interesting setting. I would very much like to play a core FF game, set in Ivalice, where you have seven party members - one of each of the races presented in FFT:A2.




> I imagine Baku and Regent Cid are voiced by John Dimaggio. :3



Well, now I do too. X)


----------



## peppygrowlithe (Nov 19, 2012)

Tao said:


> Have you ever seen Quina in his/her trance form? Only the dead can know peace from this evil.



*holds knees, rocks a little*


----------



## benignBiotic (Nov 19, 2012)

peppygrowlithe said:


> I particularly agree with the comment on Ivalice. It's an interesting setting. I would very much like to play a core FF game, set in Ivalice, where you have seven party members - one of each of the races presented in FFT:A2.


My one gripe about XII was that you couldn't play as members of the other races. Before it came out I was looking forward to playing as moogles, seeq, and especially bangaa, but no dice. At least they are all over the place in Ivalice. One of my favorite little things about XII was the breadth of monsters and the way they had distinct genera and species.


----------



## Imperial Impact (Nov 19, 2012)




----------



## FreedomXJustice (Nov 19, 2012)

Imperial Impact said:


>



Wh...what...I mean...what? No, no more.


----------



## peppygrowlithe (Nov 19, 2012)

benignBiotic said:


> My one gripe about XII was that you couldn't play as members of the other races. Before it came out I was looking forward to playing as moogles, seeq, and especially bangaa, but no dice. At least they are all over the place in Ivalice. One of my favorite little things about XII was the breadth of monsters and the way they had distinct genera and species.



Exactly! It's strange to have a game set in a world filled with lizards and pigdragons and bearbunnies... and to have a team composed of five pale white people and a lady in a bunny suit. I did like several of the characters (Fran was just interesting all around, Basch's voice was as dreamy as it was overly serious, and Reddas's hot pink biker shots were... certainly distinctive), but Vaan or Penelo could easily have been replaced with a Bangaa or a Seeq, and it would have added a real element of charm and fantasy. 

The Final Fantasy series seems to be straying away from antho characters in general. Final Fantasy XIII and its sequel didn't have any anthropomorphic animals at all (unless you count Mog). Crisis Core, Versus XIII, and Type-O also seem to have nothing but humans. Theaterhythm (which is totally awesome, by the way) didn't include any playable anthros. The closest we get is Vivi, who, admittedly, is one of my favorite characters in the franchise.

I sadly haven't had a chance to play Dimensions, but I believe that's all humans, too. Each entry seems to be more series, more "modern", and less fantasy. This push toward 'realism' might be an attempt to appeal to American markets, but if this is the case, it feels misguided. Many people felt the series went downhill after 9 or 10, which I would say were more lighthearted than 12 or 13.

You don't have to be a furry to think nonhuman characters add charm to a game. Just look at how popular some of the aliens in the Mass Effect series are. _Everybody_ loves Garrus. 

And Wakka looks pretty darn good for twenty years of being a dad! You think Lulu does all the hard work?


----------



## benignBiotic (Nov 19, 2012)

VeemonXGabumon we need more of Final Fantasy's greatest and deepest character brudda.

Final Fantasy X is weird. I found the whole story really odd for a Final Fantasy, but I enjoyed it. Having to switch chars in battle all the time was annoying. But I really enjoyed the weapon upgrade system and orb system. 
Also Kimahri <3



> Exactly! It's strange to live in a world filled with lizards and  pigdragons and bearbunnies... and your team is composed of five pale  white people and a lady in a bunny suit. I did like several of the  characters (Fran was just interesting all around, Basch's voice was as  dreamy as it was overly serious, and Reddas's hot pink biker shots  were... certainly distinctive), but Vaan or Penelo could easily have  been replaced with a Bangaa or a Seeq, and it would have added a real  element of charm and fantasy. Ah well, here's hopin'.


I don't dislike Vaan or Penelo particularly, but I wish Square-Enix had gone with their original plan of making Basch the main character. Not because he's a badass, but because then, like you said, the creators could have given us a bangaa or moogle to play as in lieu of Vaan or Penelo. Imagine if each of the races had like a weapon affinity or something? Like moogles would be especially skilled with knives and guns. Hehe, If only in my dreams.


----------



## peppygrowlithe (Nov 19, 2012)

That would be great! I heard somewhere that Fran and Balthier have unique attack animations for crossbows and guns, respectively. The problem is that these unique animations don't deal extra damage, but they do take slightly longer. They are specifically the worst at their 'token' weapons! An amusing bit of trivia, and something I was reminded about by your weapon affinity comment. I would have loved to have seen something like that incorporated into the game.

I also didn't dislike Vaan or Penelo, and I even liked the unique idea of having your main character genuinely, honestly, be 'just some kid'. I was expecting by the end that Vaan was 'the chosen one' all along, and it was interesting how they averted this. FF12 seemed very big on avoiding common fantasy tropes, so kudos in that regard.

I admit that the thing I love most about FFX is the Ronso. I know that's silly, but they're just so badass! I play one on an FF-themed MU*. In any case, being able to switch your party was actually one of the things I liked about the game. It made it quicker and easier to level up your party evenly, and it at least partially subverted a common incident in other RPG games. The other guardians weren't just standing around, twiddling their thumbs; they could be called upon at a moment's notice. It's still not realistic, but it gives more justification than, say, FF7, where there really was no good reason you couldn't have all eight members of your party working together at the same time. 

I know this isn't a popular opinion, but I prefer the FF4 style of party selection. Let the game choose my party, and have me adjust tactics based off of that. Sometimes you would be 'forced' into an unbalanced party (Cecil, Tellah, Palom, Porom, anyone?), and you were expected to accommodate. It was great!


----------



## Imperial Impact (Nov 19, 2012)

THIS IS _MY_ STORY!


----------



## FreedomXJustice (Nov 19, 2012)

Imperial Impact said:


> THIS IS _MY_ STORY!







You and your recycled material. You're going to get stuck taking care of this monster.


----------



## Imperial Impact (Nov 19, 2012)

VeemonXGabumon said:


> You and your recycled material. You're going to get stuck taking care of this monster.








Whatever...


----------



## Rakkaki- (Nov 20, 2012)

Question for you people, what do you think was better, FFX or FFVII, I've played FFX and thought it was the most amazing game ever to be made, I havent played VII yet, is it really better than X?


----------



## benignBiotic (Nov 20, 2012)

Rakkaki- said:


> Question for you people, what do you think was better, FFX or FFVII, I've played FFX and thought it was the most amazing game ever to be made, I havent played VII yet, is it really better than X?


Final Fantasy VII is better I say. X had some really great things going for it, but VII is better overall. I never found X as interesting as I did VII.


----------



## FreedomXJustice (Nov 20, 2012)

Imperial Impact said:


> Whatever...


----------



## thoron (Nov 20, 2012)

I do notice a trend when it comes to none human characters in Final Fantasy, there is a really good chance of getting a non human character if there is a village, city, nation of only that race. Freya came from Bermecia which consists (as far as I can tell) only of rat people. Kimarhi comes from a tribe that more or less secludes itself away in the mountains. Fran home Eruyt Village is a Veira only population as well. Even though Red XIII is the only one of his kind in the game, his race was also very location specific in that they are only every mentioned to exist in the Cosmo Canyon area. The only exception to this as far as I can tell is in FFV with the werewolves of Quelb.


----------



## benignBiotic (Nov 20, 2012)

Maybe someday we'll have dare I say... an anthro main character? That would be so dope.


----------



## Digitalpotato (Nov 20, 2012)

thoron said:


> I do notice a trend when it comes to none human characters in Final Fantasy, there is a really good chance of getting a non human character if there is a village, city, nation of only that race. Freya came from Bermecia which consists (as far as I can tell) only of rat people. Kimarhi comes from a tribe that more or less secludes itself away in the mountains. Fran home Eruyt Village is a Veira only population as well. Even though Red XIII is the only one of his kind in the game, his race was also very location specific in that they are only every mentioned to exist in the Cosmo Canyon area. The only exception to this as far as I can tell is in FFV with the werewolves of Quelb.



Elves don't count either - have they ever been featured as playable in any final fantasy game?


----------



## benignBiotic (Nov 20, 2012)

Digitalpotato said:


> Elves don't count either - have they ever been featured as playable in any final fantasy game?


FF games don't usually have 'elves' per se. The Viera are the latest analogue. Woodsy, connected to nature, fragile looking. Like Thoron said the Viera are holed up in their protected wood and few ever leave it. Haha, it's like FF parties need a token anthro.


----------



## thoron (Nov 20, 2012)

Digitalpotato said:


> Elves don't count either - have they ever been featured as playable in any final fantasy game?



The only one I recall is FFXI, and that doesn't even count if your looking for a FF that has a story line to it with a playable character written into it. Though elves have been seen in FFI.


----------



## Toshabi (Nov 20, 2012)

imo, final fantasy 1-6 + 9 were good, the rest were garbage. 


also



[yt]3xfzjw1Px1M[/yt]


----------



## thoron (Nov 21, 2012)

Toshabi said:


> imo, final fantasy 1-6 + 9 were good, the rest were garbage.



I wouldn't say garbage, 7 and 8 did annoy me with how the characters didn't have a distict role in combat, but they had a decent story. 10 and 13 were very linear, and 12 was tedious with all the side quests.


----------



## Toshabi (Nov 21, 2012)

thoron said:


> I wouldn't say garbage, 7 and 8 did annoy me with how the characters didn't have a distict role in combat, but they had a decent story. 10 and 13 were very linear, and 12 was tedious with all the side quests.




Final Fantasy 7 had a story?


----------



## Digitalpotato (Nov 21, 2012)

benignBiotic said:


> FF games don't usually have 'elves' per se. The Viera are the latest analogue. Woodsy, connected to nature, fragile looking. Like Thoron said the Viera are holed up in their protected wood and few ever leave it. Haha, it's like FF parties need a token anthro.



Not all really - only 6, 7, 9, 10, and 12 do. 11 _does_ feature non-human races as character options but they're all player-made. You can probably count it since some important characters in the games' various stories happen to be non-human, ie Shantotto. 



Toshabi said:


> Final Fantasy 7 had a story?



You haven't played the game, have you?


----------



## Ranguvar (Nov 21, 2012)

Toshabi said:


> Final Fantasy 7 had a story?



It did, just not a very good one.


----------



## peppygrowlithe (Nov 21, 2012)

I simply must add, though it's a nitpick more than anything else: FF1 had elves. :> I'll have something, uh... constructive to say after I get back from work, I swear.


----------



## Dragoncloud64 (Nov 21, 2012)

Green_Knight said:


> It did, just not a very good one.



It wasn't very good by itself.  However if you played Crisis Core before hand it makes the plot a bit better as you actually have a backround to the story.  Also Crisis Core could have been one of the best FF's, if the battle system/materia leveling wasn't ass.  The story/graphics were good at least...


----------



## Digitalpotato (Nov 22, 2012)

Green_Knight said:


> It did, just not a very good one.



Part of the reason is just that it was showing us an unreliable narrator when we don't know what _was_ supposed to be correct.

That and it's just aged, and not particularly well. Many things that Final Fantasy VII did were done better by other games since then, really. That, and it's in that transition era of graphics where everything looks like it's made out of clay or really staticy.



peppygrowlithe said:


> I simply must add, though it's a nitpick more than anything else: FF1 had elves. :> I'll have something, uh... constructive to say after I get back from work, I swear.



I mentioend that.


----------



## peppygrowlithe (Nov 23, 2012)

Though there were some issues in the story (really, to this day, I still can't grasp why Tifa enabled Cloud's delusion for so long), I think FF7 is more an issue of a poor translation than an uninteresting story. There are blatant typos and grammatical errors all over the place, and the dialogue doesn't feel natural or correctly convey what it wants to. The scope of the story, the grandeur of it all, was very impressive given its time. Had they somehow managed to keep Ted Woolsey on to work on 7, I wouldn't be surprised if the game was even more well-received than it is now.

That said, again, the story is far from perfect - I won't argue that. I'll only fight that it isn't bad.


----------



## Digitalpotato (Nov 23, 2012)

There was a bigger bump in translation quality around VIII, yes. Heck, you can notice it with IX...


----------



## benignBiotic (Nov 24, 2012)

I feel like FFVII's story might have been improved by shifting focus away from the lifestream 'blood of the planet' stuff. It never really made sense to me.


----------



## peppygrowlithe (Nov 24, 2012)

Digitalpotato said:


> There was a bigger bump in translation quality around VIII, yes. Heck, you can notice it with IX...



Playing through FFVIII as I am now, I would tentatively disagree on that point, although I don't know much about the Japanese version of the game. The typos are minimized, but the translation still feels choppy - characters don't feel like they're reacting or interacting the way they should. Murky pronouns and fragmented thoughts were all over the place, and I found it very difficult to get into anybody's "voice". I don't know if this is the result of a "direct translation" or just if the guys who worked on the translation were just kind of boring, but the dialogue never really had any zing or pep. (This is unrelated to any criticism of the story or the characters.)

 IX, however, had a fantastic translation. It was just fun all around, and each character was bubbling with personality. The sentence structure was enjoyable to read, and the story on the whole made sense as a result. At least as far as translation goes, the quality maintains or improves from there. (Say what you will about FFXIII's story, I never got the impression it was the translator's fault.)


----------



## lupinealchemist (Nov 25, 2012)

I'm already on disc 3 of IX. I never get the Excalibur II cause rushing to disc 4 in under 12 hours kills the enjoyment of the game.


----------



## benignBiotic (Nov 27, 2012)

lupinealchemist said:


> I'm already on disc 3 of IX. I never get the Excalibur II cause rushing to disc 4 in under 12 hours kills the enjoyment of the game.


Word. I wouldn't want to rush through all of that. You get II in Dagguero right?


----------



## Digitalpotato (Nov 29, 2012)

peppygrowlithe said:


> Playing through FFVIII as I am now, I would tentatively disagree on that point, although I don't know much about the Japanese version of the game. The typos are minimized, but the translation still feels choppy - characters don't feel like they're reacting or interacting the way they should. Murky pronouns and fragmented thoughts were all over the place, and I found it very difficult to get into anybody's "voice". I don't know if this is the result of a "direct translation" or just if the guys who worked on the translation were just kind of boring, but the dialogue never really had any zing or pep. (This is unrelated to any criticism of the story or the characters.)
> 
> IX, however, had a fantastic translation. It was just fun all around, and each character was bubbling with personality. The sentence structure was enjoyable to read, and the story on the whole made sense as a result. At least as far as translation goes, the quality maintains or improves from there. (Say what you will about FFXIII's story, I never got the impression it was the translator's fault.)




However, like I said, you _notice_ it more with IX. Mainly in that VIII and IX are a bit more consistent. Perhaps I should have rephrased it and said you noticed a bigger bump with IX but it was a little more subtle with VIII. 

Course I still couldn't help but laugh at some of the people complaining at the stuffy english dialogue in XII or War of the Lions. I didn't find anything wrong with it, even "I can't tell what some of the abilities are". Really? I thought it was pretty obvious, and I didn't even need to hit the "Select" button.


----------



## Fruitpunchotter (Nov 29, 2012)

I really wish they'd announce a FFV remake for the 3DS :|


----------



## Suezotiger (Nov 29, 2012)

Currently playing through V Advance and Tactics Advance. These two games definitely have my favorite type of Job system. Now for a list of all the ones I played:

FFI: Played through this at least twice on the GBA version. Never really liked the Monk, Theif, or Black Mage Jobs. The latter due to the fact that Red Mages could use all of the useful Black Magic. Also, I just love time loops.
FFII: Played very little of it. I was too busy playing FFI that came on the same GBA cartridge.
FFIII: Never beat this for whatever reason. I think it had something to do with my brother deciding to just go with 4 Ninja and spam Shuriken at the final boss.
FFIV: Got stuck in one of the dungeons and never continued. I didn't use guides that much back then, either, so I didn't even think to look at one.
FFV: Like it so far but I've only played a few hours.
FFX: The first FF game I played. It has my second favorite Job system (you're stuck with one Job in the beginning but can do everything by the end) and I grinded forever just to give most of my party 255 in every stat, including Luck. Blitzball was incredibly fun as well and I think I ended up spending more time doing that that actually going through the story.
FFXII: I really like the combat system in this game and running around getting gigantic chains is really fun, as opposed to standard grinding. Plenty of side stuff to do as well, which is nice when you don't feel like advancing the plot. The only problems I have with this game are the fact that everyone can do anything right off the bat (which is why I only used Vaan, Fran, and Basch for everything other than Quickenings), Quickenings were easy to refresh and broken against most boss fights, and Water and Earth don't have any sort of powerful Black Magic. I'm fixing the first two in the playthroughs I'll be doing and the international version also fixed the first one as well. Too bad it will never go anywhere outside of Japan. And as far as kicking out characters go, I'd probably get rid of Vaan and Penello since they seem to be the least interesting out of the lot and add a Moogle and Nu Mou/Bangaa.
FFXIII: Go stuck on one of the early bosses and didn't feel like grinding to beat it.

FF Crystal Chronicles: Me, my brother, and my friend all played through this game a long time ago. You're really not doing it right if you play by yourself, even though I remember I did get the Fire and Ice Gauntlets, Flame Mail, and Fire, Ice, and Thunder Pendants on my own for kicks. Being able to tank elemental damage was great.
FF Tactics Advance: Currently playing through this as well. I'm specifically not getting all the crazy stuff you can early just so I can play through it again and compare the two playthroughs.

Edit: Something I've noticed in the series is how Moogles go from being basically non-existant to very important within each console generation. I-III were on the NES and III was the only one with Moogles at all. IV-VI were on the SNES with IV not having any Moogles while VI had a Moogle PC. VII-IX were on the PS1 with Moogles not really being in either VII or VIII but they acted as save points in IX. X and XII were on the PS2 and they were only in X as weapons for Lulu while XII has notable Moogle NPC's. XIII and XIII-2 are on XBox360 and PS3 with the former having no Moogles and the latter having one that follows you around. If XV is on next gen consoles and has no Moogles, the pattern will continue.


----------



## peppygrowlithe (Nov 30, 2012)

Digitalpotato said:


> Course I still couldn't help but laugh at some of the people complaining at the stuffy english dialogue in XII or War of the Lions.



Sometimes it could get a little over the top. I loooove Basch (he's medieval He-Man!), but sometimes the Sacred Solemnity with which he pronounced some of his 'stuffy' lines - as you so aptly put it - was a little jarring. But that's just the flavor of Ivalice speaking out. This might be a generational thing, where gamers of the SNES era might associate the dialogue with the Ye Olde Broken English of popular JRPG figures such as Frog and Cyan. Also, Agrias's 'spoony bard' line in WotL was fantastic.



Suezotiger said:


> Currently playing through V Advance and Tactics Advance. These two games definitely have my favorite type of Job system. Now for a list of all the ones I played:
> 
> FFI: Played through this at least twice on the GBA version. Never really liked the Monk, Theif, or Black Mage Jobs. The latter due to the fact that Red Mages could use all of the useful Black Magic. Also, I just love time loops.



I never got much use out of the Black Mage myself (though more in the GBA version, where you have MP instead of limited spells per day). Thieves were more useful in the very original, where running from battles was key, and nobody could book it better than a thief. Monks (Black Belts) are just cheap warriors with all the offense and none of the defense. Personally, my favorite group to run is two Fighters, a Monk, and a White Mage, but I choose a different group every time I play for the fun.




> FFX: The first FF game I played. It has my second favorite Job system (you're stuck with one Job in the beginning but can do everything by the end) and I grinded forever just to give most of my party 255 in every stat, including Luck.



FFX had a very nice balance between offering customization without burdening you with too much choice. If you want to keep everybody in their original roles, it's entirely viable. And if you really feel like making Auron your Black Mage and Yuna your physical attack expert, it's just a few key locks (and some grinding) away.


> And as far as kicking out characters go, I'd probably get rid of Vaan and Penello since they seem to be the least interesting out of the lot and add a Moogle and Nu Mou/Bangaa.



As you might be aware, Vaan and Penelo were added comparatively late in development as a way of making the game more accessible to Japanese youths. Basch, Balthier, and Ashe were all considered as 'main characters' to the story, and in the end, they settled on a refreshingly FF6-esque 'no real main character' concept. This final decision was a unique touch, but frustrating for the furries. X)  I'm playing through Revenant Wings now, and looking through the manual, I find that, well, looks like the vast majority of the guys I'll be recruiting in this game are Humes, too. How frustrating!



> Edit: Something I've noticed in the series is how Moogles go from being basically non-existant to very important within each console generation. I-III were on the NES and III was the only one with Moogles at all. IV-VI were on the SNES with IV not having any Moogles while VI had a Moogle PC. VII-IX were on the PS1 with Moogles not really being in either VII or VIII but they acted as save points in IX. X and XII were on the PS2 and they were only in X as weapons for Lulu while XII has notable Moogle NPC's. XIII and XIII-2 are on XBox360 and PS3 with the former having no Moogles and the latter having one that follows you around. If XV is on next gen consoles and has no Moogles, the pattern will continue.



That's an interesting pattern you've discovered, and one I hadn't noticed. Since there's a dresssphere in X-2 that allows you to dress up like a Moogle, I'd say that's slightly more prolific than Lulu's dolls (not much, though, the dresssphere's a pain in the butt to get), and that keeps perfectly in check with your observation.

I won't say I'm not nervous about XV... I believe I've said it already, but I'll say it again! I think the next game in the series should court the old fans, in a sort of FFIX-esque rennaissance. The market is craving a good turn-based RPG, and retro stuff is huge these days.


----------



## Bloodshot_Eyes (Nov 30, 2012)

Fuck 12. Fuck 12 in its ass.


----------



## Arshes Nei (Nov 30, 2012)

peppygrowlithe said:


> Though there were some issues in the story (really, to this day, I still can't grasp why Tifa enabled Cloud's delusion for so long), I think FF7 is more an issue of a poor translation than an uninteresting story. There are blatant typos and grammatical errors all over the place, and the dialogue doesn't feel natural or correctly convey what it wants to. The scope of the story, the grandeur of it all, was very impressive given its time. Had they somehow managed to keep Ted Woolsey on to work on 7, I wouldn't be surprised if the game was even more well-received than it is now.
> 
> That said, again, the story is far from perfect - I won't argue that. I'll only fight that it isn't bad.










The problem is that you can have problems with the story if the characters you could relate to. I mean Xenogears...it can be a downright mess at times trying to explain all the problems, but I still liked the characters...

Normally it's typical for a lot of these kind of RPGs to have the main character be "blank" but this doesn't work for Cloud because you wanted to know what he was like due to the story - it made him too detached and well...emo. That and trying to figure out if he had a fucking penis 

Tifa...was like...why the hell can't you like speak up for yourself and stop jiggling your tig ol bitties. Barret...is...blah which sucks is because he's the token Black. Least I think he got more lines than T-Dog in Walking Dead at least.

Yuffie is just over the top annoying. Cid was fine, Red XIII and Vincent were interesting.

Then you had Cait Sith which was...why the fuck was he around? Least Yuffie is optional 

Now Aerith I was actually ok with her - as a playable character though she was weak till she got her final limit break - which a lot of people didn't bother with. I was ok with people hating her for that. It just got me that people were mad at her because she was "moving in on Cloud, when he's 'supposed to be with Tifa'..." but like fuck. Neither Cloud OR Tifa said shit. Why was that her fault? It was fucking stupid to hate her over something 2 other adults should have said something about 

The other problem with the story was something of design choices. It was hard to feel tension when you had it going back forth when you had FMVs of Popeye Armed Chibis, and some were regular sized. Just didn't mesh and some scenes just looked silly because of the switch back and forth...

I did like Tactics 

I like it when the FFs are more fantasy like than techno/with random summoned monsters that don't seem to fit in the world otherwise.

I think the most bullshit one (besides possible sequels to other FFs) is FF VIII
It was supposed to be a love story. Fuckifikno. 

Probably why I ended up liking Xenogears, least the characters consummated.


----------



## benignBiotic (Dec 3, 2012)

Bloodshot_Eyes said:


> Fuck 12. Fuck 12 in its ass.


I refuse. I will love XII until I die. The story wasn't spectacular, but I love the setting and gameplay.


----------



## Arshes Nei (Dec 3, 2012)

benignBiotic said:


> I refuse. I will love XII until I die. The story wasn't spectacular, but I love the setting and gameplay.




Don't believe in Ondore's lies!
[yt]vSyfGm6wXgs[/yt]


----------



## benignBiotic (Dec 3, 2012)

Arshes Nei said:


> Don't believe in Ondore's lies!
> [yt]vSyfGm6wXgs[/yt]


Yeah I've seen it. So funny.


----------



## RTDragon (Dec 3, 2012)

I actually prefer 12 for the gambit system considering first time i did not have to set commands for each character in my party and just focus on the one that i control. that was a genius.


----------



## Rheumatism (Dec 3, 2012)

FF1-FF6 = Haven't played
FFTactics = Got to (I believe) the final boss and my game data corrupted.  Redid all my progress and my game data corrupted once again.  Always have the worst luck with this game, I plan to get it again one of these days and hopefully finish it.  I really want to.
FFTactics Advance = Never played.
FF7 = Didn't get to play as wheelchair bound Cloud.  Ruined the game for me.
FF7 Dirge of Cerebrus = Own, never played.
FF7 Crisis Core = Never Played
FF8 = Whatever
FF9 = Vivi is my nigga.
FF10 = Hahahahaha
FF10-2 = It's kinky massage mini games weren't enough for me to finish the game.
FF11 = Never played.
FFCrystal Chronicles = Damned bucket... With 3 other people it was actually a sweet game.
FF12 = Basch lives!  Bought on launch day, it was alright.
FF13 = Possibly one of the absolute worst games I've ever played and finished.
FF Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon = Meh, it was alright.  Far better than 13.
FF13-2 = Haven't played it yet, couldn't possibly be worse than 13 right?
FFCrystal Chronicles : The Crystal Bearers = Own, still haven't played.
FFCrystal Chronicles : Echoes of Time = Never Played.


----------



## Arshes Nei (Dec 17, 2012)

In the original Final Fantasy, I know in the NES version there was the invisible person bug. Basically a programmer placed a person that was supposed to be visible when you enter a room outside a room, so since you never "entered a room" with that person they stayed invisible in the first castle. Later games they fixed or removed the person. I know in the PSX version you see them.

I know there were other glitches like broken spells, stats not working like they were supposed to but one thing I haven't seen explained: Hall of Giants.

There's a part in the game where one of the corridors you go down, every step is a monster battle with "Giants" (they're renamed to Giga?) in the PSX version. Did any of the original team from FF ever come forward and explain it? Was it a bug, or some programmer being funny (which has happened)?


----------



## lupinealchemist (Dec 17, 2012)

Arshes Nei said:


> In the original Final Fantasy, I know in the NES version there was the invisible person bug. Basically a programmer placed a person that was supposed to be visible when you enter a room outside a room, so since you never "entered a room" with that person they stayed invisible in the first castle. Later games they fixed or removed the person. I know in the PSX version you see them.
> 
> I know there were other glitches like broken spells, stats not working like they were supposed to but one thing I haven't seen explained: Hall of Giants.
> 
> There's a part in the game where one of the corridors you go down, every step is a monster battle with "Giants" (they're renamed to Giga?) in the PSX version. Did any of the original team from FF ever come forward and explain it? Was it a bug, or some programmer being funny (which has happened)?



  In Earth Cave, I know the south and west corridors on the first floor connect provide nothing but battles at each step. I just can't remember what always spawned.


----------



## Arshes Nei (Dec 17, 2012)

lupinealchemist said:


> Earth Cave?



Yup. Do happen to know what was the story behind that?


----------



## Magick (Dec 18, 2012)

Tactics will always be my favorite, I love the classes, the story and the customization you can do with everyone, but random encounters just get way too OP when you start getting to higher levels.


----------



## lupinealchemist (Dec 18, 2012)

Arshes Nei said:


> Yup. Do happen to know what was the story behind that?


No, but these become more frequent in the GBA's extra dungeons and especially Final Fantasy II. Fuck the dead end rooms with a machete.


----------

