Any Final Fantasy fans here?

Anyone else here a fan of the FF series? I still enjoy turn-based J-RPGs. FF3 (aka FF6) on SNES was my first RPG ever but didn't understand it much until years later. So far I've finished: 4, 6, 7, and about 70 hours into FF10. Preparing to meet the final boss, but doing all the side quests on the part where you get the ability to fully explore with the airship. Also working through FF5, 8, and 9. I've played a bit of the others more or less.

I own Final Fantasy Type-0 as an import. The original PSP version (which never came out over here). Very different from the others but really cool for a handheld system.

*bump*

I've tried getting into the series and own most of the games, but the era of enjoying sinking tons of hours into single-player games that are hard to pull away from may be in my rearview. Anymore, I tend to prefer games that can be easily taken in bite-size chunks and put down or games (Borderlands 1/2) that can be that but played socially.

FF is also a tough animal because it already has history. You've got tons of opinions coming from all around of which of the originals are any good (opinions seem to tag 6-9 as the holy batch) and nobody seems to think anything positive about the new ones. That's a hard legacy to pierce. Even Mass Effect 3's ending getting all the hate it did wasn't enough to keep me from checking out the series. FF is a LOT more about the legacy and a lot less about the gameplay from what I've seen. It's like video game disco - if you were into it during its era, you loved it. Coming at it now, you may as well be trying to immigrate to a foreign country.

It doesn't help that I also scored a ton of old PC games recently and my consoles will probably collect dust in the meanwhile as those are dug into.

I wouldn't say that's entirely the case. I listen both to 70s and 80s disco and was born in '88 so I would hardly say it had any impact on my liking it. I remember being young and raised with NES and SNES, but wanting an Atari and being excited once I got my hands on one. I dabbled in it a bit, and while its not my favorite classic console (I might actually love the NES more than the SNES) I could easily pick up and play a round of Berzerk or Desert Eagle even now. But there are still more people out there influenced by nostalgia than those who have ventured past their comfort zone to try the classics.

And yes, I do enjoy shorter games too like Cave Story. But I tend to despise massive timesink sandbox games with no strong direction like DragonAge, GTA, and stuff like that.

Guess what's finally getting a remake??? Can't wait!!

Heard about it today, Sword. Does look very interesting!

... I'm really not sure how I feel about that. I mean, haven't the last two or three FF games been pretty harshly panned for lacklustre gameplay?

Seems like this is a losing proposition all around - from my understanding of FFVII, they can't improve on the gameplay and may actually damage it by remaking the game AND it also means they're throwing resources into a nostalgia trip instead of putting out good NEW games.

Or is there a silver lining here that I'm missing? Remakes can certainly be done right and I really liked the Ducktales game that came out a few years back (grew up with and loved the NES original it was modeled after), so it's not that I'm opposed to ALL attempts at this sort of thing, but doing it for Final Fantasy seems like they're throwing their hands up and going, "Remember when we made interesting games that were fun to play? We don't! Buy this anyway!"

Just the first one for the NES. In fact, I was playing it recently to try and beat it on level 50 for each character. Love having that unarmed Black Belt.

Loved 7 (and it's PSP sequel/prequel) and enjoyed 8 but lost track after that. A 7 remake might tempt me to upgrade though. The only other thing I know about FF since that time (from watching top 5 Video Game videos) is that FFXV has been in the works for over 5 years and FFXIV was a huge disappointment.

You know, I'm starting to realize how awful the plots are in the FF games. For one, as I'm almost an inch-away from Finishing FFX, the story is not only needlessly convoluted but mediocre. The voice acting is terrible and I never felt a thing for the characters at any time. Even with the explanations of the plot online, it isn't particularly impressive in the least. What I've played of FFXIII seems to be even worse, not just gameplay wise but it seems to be a lot of eye-candy without much substance.

So, if I was going to recommend my favorites, it would actually be FF 4, 5 and 6, since the stories are accessible and the games still enjoyable. Plus they offer more freedom to explore than the recent entries. The first three are OK but not my favorites. I finished 7 and while I enjoyed it, it did not leave enough of an impression on me to become a favorite. I don't even remember much of what goes on in the story, either. Final Fantasy 6, then, is probably my favorite story-wise.

As for the FFs with a crap story, if it wasn't for the gameplay mechanics, I wouldn't have invested much time into them. Honestly, I'd prefer a game with a more straightforward storyline such as Grandia or Dragon Quest 8.

I absolutely love rpgs but don't have the time to invest in them.

I've played FF 1, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 10-2. FFX would be my favorite with 8 probably second. I tried a demo of XIV and found it very complicated.

BTW, when you go into the final battle of FFX, be prepared for a long one.

I've played and finished every Final Fantasy game through 10. Never could finish 10-2 (just got annoying), couldn't even make myself do more than a few hours with 12, have gotten bored with 13 so many times that I keep putting it back on the shelf.

A once great series, but has certainly fallen far after the greatness of 6 and 7. I'm very ambivalent about 15 (the newest one coming), and am worried they are going to change too much of 7 outside of the graphical overhaul.

You want a great game in the vein of old Final Fantasy, try Lost Odyssey. Now THAT was a great game!

I've only played thru 9 and 7, I think I got to the end of 6 but never finished. Great games, don't really find myself with the time to play a 50 plus hour game like that anymore though, and if I do, its on an old platform like ps1 or snes. Right now I'm playing valkyrie profile on ps1 here and there.

I've been watching a LOT of top 5/10 videos, many with the subject of video games. Whether done by voting or by editor's choice, Final Fantasy 6 (FF3 on SNES) is considered the best FF game of all time. I've always been partial to 5 (2 in SNES) and 7. Mainly because 5/2 was a very big part of my early teens and 7 in my late teens. 6/3 was lost in between.

You're actually thinking of 4, not 5, Dallas, as far as FF2 on SNES goes. 5 was never released during the SNES era because they didn't think it was accessible enough to western players. It eventually got localized for PS1 as part of the compilation sets of classic FF games. It's actually one of my favorites because of the job system but is shunned because of its lack of story, which really wasn't all that big of a drawback, IMHO.

muckie wrote:

You're actually thinking of 4, not 5, Dallas, as far as FF2 on SNES goes. 5 was never released during the SNES era because they didn't think it was accessible enough to western players. It eventually got localized for PS1 as part of the compilation sets of classic FF games. It's actually one of my favorites because of the job system but is shunned because of its lack of story, which really wasn't all that big of a drawback, IMHO.

I got it confused because until about 10 years ago (when I got 4 in a special edition), I knew it as FFII.