Gaming The Final Fantasy Thread

What's your favourite single-player FF?

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What a great soundtrack FF9 had. Massive as well, too many to list a favourite. Just in the process of downloading the tracks that were cut from it.

Some more good ones:







I love that Lindblum one. Even better is the one that you hear after the, er, stuff with Atomos. Eiko's theme, every Tantalus/Steiner theme, Crossing Those Hills... every one of them so memorable.
 
What are peoples thoughts on XIII-2? I've been playing it recently. I despised XIII but i think that this one is fairly decent. The soundtrack is meh, but i think that the story and the characters are a bit more likable than XIII...
 
I didn't get much into XIII at all, for some reason, the whole story and characters were a bit "who gives a feck", and the pretty visuals weren't enough to keep me hooked. Also didn't much like the newer battle and levelling systems.

Played some of the demo for XIII-2, and while I wasn't gone on it either, it was a bit better, liked the Pokemonish collecting of monsters, but not the battle system as a whole, characters seemed more interesting too, though I didn't get much exposure to them.

As for IX, while there are songs from other Final Fantasies I prefer, I'd have to imagine it has the strongest overall soundtrack, so much gold.
 
I really am a nobhead, it makes me so irritated when I think of XIII. :lol: 13-2 is genuinely the only FF game I could've got that I never actually considered getting. Agree with you about the characters Earthquake - 13 had the worst ones ever. So one-dimensional. I don't know what genre these people would've belonged to on television; something like a mix of Hollyoaks type stuff and incredible cheesy Japanese anime.

Pretty much everyone I knew at the time who got it spent half the time trying to convince themselves it was good, before then finally deciding that it was just extremely poor and dull by comparison. The whole atmosphere and world was so disinteresting. How can you make an FF game without cities, shops and villages and shit?! There were no cultures, races, sidequests or anything. It was just one massive corridor with a reasonably sized room near the end of it.

Grrrr....
 
The characters on XIII were fecking awful, i actually rage quit and snapped the 3rd disc because i had reached my tether with Vanille. fecking annoying bitch she was, only their for eye candy but her voice and THAT laugh was ARGH. Don't get me started on Hope who had the most ironic name in the whole world.
 
Yet I'm still thinking of buying XV..... feck sake.

Then you have the opposite in Konami, split the team that made some of the best RPG's ever up, re-release them on PSP in Japan only, when they already have the freaking translations handy and could pop them up on PSN quite easily. It's like they hate money.
 
SilentWitness said:
The characters on XIII were fecking awful, i actually rage quit and snapped the 3rd disc because i had reached my tether with Vanille. fecking annoying bitch she was, only their for eye candy but her voice and THAT laugh was ARGH. Don't get me started on Hope who had the most ironic name in the whole world.
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Nice. :lol:

Yeah, Vanille and Hope...deary me. Just...why? I swear the only point of Vanille was to make you feel weird about thinking she was fit. I was the same age as Vanille when playing that game, but even then I felt dodgy as feck.

Hope...new levels of annoyingness were reached with him. He cast me into some pretty dark ways of thought, if truth be told. There were things that I was wishing would happen to him that shouldn't be wished upon anyone, never mind a child.

Earthquake said:
Yet I'm still thinking of buying XV..... feck sake.

Then you have the opposite in Konami, split the team that made some of the best RPG's ever up, re-release them on PSP in Japan only, when they already have the freaking translations handy and could pop them up on PSN quite easily. It's like they hate money.
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It really is the last chance with XV. If it's just a prettier version of FF13, there's no turning back.

Don't know what it is about RPG makers liking making money out of shit games, and not wanting money for quality ones. There was only one print of Xenoblade apparently (1 million copies sold immediately), and it wasn't even released in Europe or North America originally. This is a game that many who have played it are saying is one of the best RPGs ever, and easily the best JRPG of this generation. After some pressure, it was released in Europe, and then eventually North America.
 
Not heard of either, but Wikipedia tells me in regards to Infamous that this would be a good thing. Didn't know Amon Tobin had composed for a video game before, cool stuff.

Would love it if was just a vamped Kingdom Hearts battle system with a traditionally strong FF storyline. feck's sake, a game like that would sell millions and millions.

I've read a lot of posts about it on here and elsehwere, but is it really true that gaming companies consider people too stupid nowadays by and large for anything overly complex? I'm trying to wrap my head round why the gaming industry is as it is. People in the 40s liked classical music and jazz. People who get shown The Sopranos, The Wire, etc start liking good television. People who played FF7, Torment, FF10 liked games with complex storylines....

If people really are getting more stupid/inattentive, it's because of the stuff they're being fed - not the other way round. I think I had a few debates with Redlambs about a year ago about this sort of thing and I will gladly admit now I had no real idea back then of the problem or what was being discussed.
 
Oh, both are good games, but more sandbox action adventure, than RPG. They tend to feature that building climbing mechanic(especially Prototype).

Kingdom Hearts combat, Final Fantasy story, that'd be about the only Action RPG that'd get me seriously interested, I think.
 
Earthquake said:
Oh, both are good games, but more sandbox action adventure, than RPG. They tend to feature that building climbing mechanic(especially Prototype).

Kingdom Hearts combat, Final Fantasy story, that'd be about the only Action RPG that'd get me seriously interested, I think.
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Just read up a bit more about them - they do look good! I screwed up not getting a PS3 this time round. Got no qualms with the Xbox but the PS3 is miles better for RPGs.

Amen to that last bit, would be a hell of a game. :D Makes me wonder...how hard can it be really for a company that is as loaded as Square-Enix probably is to task a good writer with producing a memorable storyline and narrative? I don't know how ignorant I'm being now, but I just can't imagine it's that difficult. Maybe it's because they've lost themselves so much to these incredible graphics and cut scenes that it's become daunting to combine that with the above, I don't know.
 
It can't be that hard. Other games manage it.

Too many games companies get trapped in the graphics trap these days, pumping them up, and coasting with less substance.

As for the PS3, it's my preferred console, but hasn't seen much use lately, I recently picked up an Xbox, for playing Fifa and the like with mates, but the added advantage of Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon and Fable 2+3.
 
Earthquake said:
It can't be that hard. Other games manage it.

Too many games companies get trapped in the graphics trap these days, pumping them up, and coasting with less substance.

As for the PS3, it's my preferred console, but hasn't seen much use lately, I recently picked up an Xbox, for playing Fifa and the like with mates, but the added advantage of Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon and Fable 2+3.
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True. Not played it yet but people have waxed lyrical about the new Bioshock in this respect. I can barely even remember FF13's now... It just seemed like it was a great big nothing fleshed out by some Mass Effect codex thing.

I've still not played Lost Odyssey. Seems inexcusable to whinge so frequently and monomaniacally about FF13 whilst avoiding that altogether.
 
KingEric7 said:
True. Not played it yet but people have waxed lyrical about the new Bioshock in this respect. I can barely even remember FF13's now... It just seemed like it was a great big nothing fleshed out by some Mass Effect codex thing.
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Yeah, whole thing was in one ear, out the other, lets run down this corridor like it's a 1980's top down shooter.

KingEric7 said:
I've still not played Lost Odyssey. Seems inexcusable to whinge so frequently and monomaniacally about FF13 whilst avoiding that altogether.
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It's crazy good. Actually feels like a classic Final Fantasy. Good music, great story, interesting characters, unique skill system, world map(kind of). All it's missing is Shiva, Ifrit, and co. What was most interesting to me was the combat, everyones physical attacks were like an expanded version of Squall's gunblade. Weapons purely increased attack stats, and you could equip rings to add various elements, power boots, status effects and so on. The rings though activate on a trigger, and the more accurate you time it, bigger the boost or more likely a status would land.
 
Dammit, I need to play that. Too many missed games to play. :lol: There's a load of whining online about how much reading there is to do with Lost Odyssey, but that sounds exactly like my cup of tea. Why play an RPG if you're willing to read, anyway...?

Edit: Not willing to read I mean!
 
You ain't kidding mate, I have so many games I need to cut through, bloody hell, I have Ni No Kuni and Dark Souls still unopened.... Blue Dragon with a save about 5 mins in.

I get you on the reading, kinda like going swimming, then complaining the water is too wet. That said, there are a few long story bits, but nothing ridiculous, nothing beyond than the Kalm flashback in VII, for example. There are some back story things, but they're entirely optional to read, and when unlocked can be read at any point, so if you don't fancy it when you unlock it, you can plough on.
 
Haven't played for three days and continued yesterday. The escape from that underground prison facility was epic.
 
The story gets more involving from that point onwards. What gets me is how Squall survived a massive Edea ice thing going through him. There's basically no explanation of that and no-one even mentions it. :lol: Aeris eat your heart out.

Have fun with Ni No Kuni, Earthquake. Very envious! Getting a PS3 when the next generation consoles come out and that's the first thing I'm going to play when I do. Hopefully I'll have played Lost Odyssey before then. :drool:
 
KingEric7 said:
The story gets more involving from that point onwards. What gets me is how Squall survived a massive Edea ice thing going through him. There's basically no explanation of that and no-one even mentions it. :lol: Aeris eat your heart out.
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There's an interesting theory with sites dedicated to it, that Squall did in fact die by the ice strike. The rest of the game being some weird imagined future flashing before him as he dies. Well worth a read if you're bored sometime. http://squallsdead.com/

KingEric7 said:
Have fun with Ni No Kuni, Earthquake. Very envious! Getting a PS3 when the next generation consoles come out and that's the first thing I'm going to play when I do.
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Cheers mate, will do! :D
 
Earthquake said:
There's an interesting theory with sites dedicated to it, that Squall did in fact die by the ice strike. The rest of the game being some weird imagined future flashing before him as he dies. Well worth a read if you're bored sometime. http://squallsdead.com/

Cheers mate, will do! :D
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Just read through that now, interesting! Knew the theory existed but didn't know anyone had gone into so much depth about it. I never interpreted it that way but it is a good read anyway like you say. Have Square ever confirmed or denied that?

I think for a theory like that to come about shows there are some things with FF8's plot that could've maybe done with a bit of refining. I was so taken in by the game when I was younger that I just sort of accepted it, but it's only now when I compare it these days to something as perfect as FF7 that I see the real difference in storytelling. Still, apart from one major plot event, it's mostly smaller things as opposed to a whole chain of ridiculousness. I loved the ideas behind SeeD, the sorceress, the Gardens, Laguna's story, etc... The issues I have with the game weren't enough to take everything away from that, the card game and the junctioning system. It's still one of the best JRPGs ever, and it's more the fact that the FFs either side of it nailed everything all at once in my opinion. 6 collapsed slightly towards the end, 8 was maybe a bit too fantastical, 7, 9 and 10 were near perfect examples of JRPG storytelling.

Great games can still be such whilst having a big stumbling point, I think. I ramble on to no end about the second disc of Xenogears - it had one of the most amazing stories in any video game, but with an absolute catastrophe of a second disc. A lot more of a let down than the way FF6 slowed towards the end. Still, a lot of people maintain it's the best JRPG of all time. All things considered I'd say it's about the same standard as FF8 - a flawed gem. That's just my opinion though, to be fair. I used to know someone who would have absolutely none of this and maintained that FF8 was the masterpiece of them all. :D
 
I think the best thing about FF8 was that

Squall and Rinoa were having the love that his dad (Laguna) and her mum (Julia) weren't able to have. It was a fantastic story with many different pieces that brought it together. Usually games that take on as much as this wouldn't be able to suffice but Final Fantasy (ALMOST) always delivers. It was great to play through dream sequences at times too. The Dragon sequence is particularly hilarious!
 
SilentWitness said:
I think the best thing about FF8 was that

Squall and Rinoa were having the love that his dad (Laguna) and her mum (Julia) weren't able to have. It was a fantastic story with many different pieces that brought it together. Usually games that take on as much as this wouldn't be able to suffice but Final Fantasy (ALMOST) always delivers. It was great to play through dream sequences at times too. The Dragon sequence is particularly hilarious!
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Yeah, that was a nice touch.

I think the Laguna stuff was the best of FF8. He was definitely my favourite character and it came together very nicely like you say. Out of all the FF battle themes barring those of 7's, it's probably the one I've extended battles the most just to listen to and all. :D
 
KingEric7 said:
Just read through that now, interesting! Knew the theory existed but didn't know anyone had gone into so much depth about it. I never interpreted it that way but it is a good read anyway like you say. Have Square ever confirmed or denied that?

I think for a theory like that to come about shows there are some things with FF8's plot that could've maybe done with a bit of refining. I was so taken in by the game when I was younger that I just sort of accepted it, but it's only now when I compare it these days to something as perfect as FF7 that I see the real difference in storytelling. Still, apart from one major plot event, it's mostly smaller things as opposed to a whole chain of ridiculousness. I loved the ideas behind SeeD, the sorceress, the Gardens, Laguna's story, etc... The issues I have with the game weren't enough to take everything away from that, the card game and the junctioning system. It's still one of the best JRPGs ever, and it's more the fact that the FFs either side of it nailed everything all at once in my opinion. 6 collapsed slightly towards the end, 8 was maybe a bit too fantastical, 7, 9 and 10 were near perfect examples of JRPG storytelling.

Great games can still be such whilst having a big stumbling point, I think. I ramble on to no end about the second disc of Xenogears - it had one of the most amazing stories in any video game, but with an absolute catastrophe of a second disc. A lot more of a let down than the way FF6 slowed towards the end. Still, a lot of people maintain it's the best JRPG of all time. All things considered I'd say it's about the same standard as FF8 - a flawed gem.
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Square never confirmed or denied. The thing I like about it is, it explains why everything is so Squall focused so neatly, it's all in his head.

Strange thing about the game, in many ways they moved in a more realistic slant, only to cancel it all out with the more fantastic moments.

While 7 was a personal favourite, I think 9, head to toe is the perfect "classic JRPG" though.

SilentWitness said:
I think the best thing about FF8 was that

Squall and Rinoa were having the love that his dad (Laguna) and her mum (Julia) weren't able to have. It was a fantastic story with many different pieces that brought it together. Usually games that take on as much as this wouldn't be able to suffice but Final Fantasy (ALMOST) always delivers. It was great to play through dream sequences at times too. The Dragon sequence is particularly hilarious!
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Yup, loved the Dragon bit, and all the dreams really. With all the odd sequels they do now, they really could make a whole game based on Laguna, I think. Perhaps a lighthearted adventure.
 
The more I read about 9, the more I really, really want to play it now.

I really fecked up the spoilering just then, I hope you didn't see any of that Revan. :nervous: Where is the spoiler button anyways on the new forum? I copied it then from SilentWitness' post but my control key on my laptop wasn't working so it just moved the spoiler.
 
I think i'm going to play 10 right now. I love but hate coming into this thread because i always end up playing one of them even though i have plenty of other games i could really get around to playing! :lol:

There is no spoiler button as i am aware, i've just been typing it in.
 
KingEric7 said:
The more I read about 9, the more I really, really want to play it now.

I really fecked up the spoilering just then, I hope you didn't see any of that Revan. :nervous: Where is the spoiler button anyways on the new forum? I copied it then from SilentWitness' post but my control key on my laptop wasn't working so it just moved the spoiler.
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I have a 9 save on my PS3, pretty well into the game, need to copypasta that to my Vita when my 32gb card arrives, and polish it off, I think I was grinding for ability points.

I've been copy pasting the spoiler tags too, can't find a button.
 
SilentWitness said:
I think i'm going to play 10 right now. I love but hate coming into this thread because i always end up playing one of them even though i have plenty of other games i could really get around to playing! :lol:

There is no spoiler button as i am aware, i've just been typing it in.
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Same here, this thread is the exact reason I have 5 and 8 on my Vita, both with saves in the early-mid stages. Also I want to finish off that 9 save, run through 7, 6, 4, finish off Lost Odyssey, various Pokemon games, some Fire Emblem bonus missions, Persona 4, Disegea 3, Ni No Kuni, Dark Souls, Last Remenants, a hand full of Dragon Quest games, and that's just RPG's.... About to loose my mind.

Yet, all I can think about is starting yet another FF save. Bah.
 
Ah good, thought this spoiler thing was just me.

SilentWitness said:
I think i'm going to play 10 right now. I love but hate coming into this thread because i always end up playing one of them even though i have plenty of other games i could really get around to playing! :lol:

There is no spoiler button as i am aware, i've just been typing it in.
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Ha, yeah it's a nightmare. :lol: I'm trying not to play anything for a while and have managed about a month so far, but FF9 is tempting me a lot.

Earthquake said:
I have a 9 save on my PS3, pretty well into the game, need to copypasta that to my Vita when my 32gb card arrives, and polish it off, I think I was grinding for ability points.

I've been copy pasting the spoiler tags too, can't find a button.
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The grind on that game was unique. I don't think I ever got beyond level 80 or so. I swear no matter how strong you got the fights against Yans were always a bit of a lottery at times. You'd have a character blown away, one with virus status, one dead... they were some tough little shits. I'm sure there was a way, but I never found a method of dealing with them that never brought about any problems. Think you needed as many of Eiko, Freya, Vivi and Dagger as possible.
 
KingEric7 said:
The grind on that game was unique. I don't think I ever got beyond level 80 or so. I swear no matter how strong you got the fights against Yans were always a bit of a lottery at times. You'd have a character blown away, one with virus status, one dead... they were some tough little shits.
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I never got anywhere near 80's in 9, I know I was grinding at the dragons above that shrine with all the bells.

Them Yans were bastards no matter what though, could never understand it, hammer them in seconds 5 times, on the 6th they murder you.
 
Aye, absolute wankers. I'm gonna go at them with 2 summoners and Freya next time. Can't think of any other way to consistently kill them all at once without someone not getting XP.

Only realised when scouring Youtube last night that you can actually fight the special monster Yan! Amazing how many times you can go through a game without realising something like that. It looks a hard fight.
 


Had no idea. Apparently you can keep fighting it over and over again for the AP and Rosetta Rings.
 
The one thing in common that these games have is the incredible opening scenes.

I forgot how annoying spamming triangle to get overdrives was.
 
Earthquake said:
Insane.


Surprised though, 9's ultimate enemies have relatively little HP, I remember Proud Clod in 7 having similar and he was dead easy.
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Yeah, I'm thinking that will be extremely hard at normal levels without that insane auto-regen he's got. I remember it being very good but not that good - he pretty much can't be killed. Think he's using a GameShark of some sort given how much cash he's got and how fast the characters all are.

True about 9, massive difference between that and 10 that followed it. Some of the enemies on that had millions and millions of HP.

Enjoy 10 by the way, SW. :) That really is a hell of an introduction to the game.
 
SilentWitness said:
The one thing in common that these games have is the incredible opening scenes.

I forgot how annoying spamming triangle to get overdrives was.
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Final Fantasy opening scenes, :drool: the very definition of epic.
KingEric7 said:
Yeah, I'm thinking that will be extremely hard at normal levels without that insane auto-regen he's got. I remember it being very good but not that good - he pretty much can't be killed. Think he's using a GameShark of some sort given how much cash he's got and how fast the characters all are.
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Those levels, all abilities on everyone, 99 of every item including the Rosetta Rings, on a save apparently set up for advertising. Definitely hacked.

KingEric7 said:
True about 9, massive difference between that and 10 that followed it. Some of the enemies on that had millions and millions of HP.
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Still, a lot of 9 enemies were proper hard, despite their relatively low numbers.
 
Aye. Ozma just fecked me up the first few times I went up against him. I remember being told that he had less HP than Quale and went in all cocky. Before I knew it, characters were dead, poisoned, silenced or blind and my best spell was healing him. :lol:
 
It really is. I never beat him on my first playthrough, and that was the one with characters at 80+. Every other attempt was done with level 60 odd characters and it wasn't easy! Quina was god in that battle.
 
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