Squeenix Best Final Fantasy

[Yuber]

Meh. 7 has better gameplay and worldbuilding too. I don't consider MMO-ification of systems and endless grinding to be particularly good gameplay. Still a somewhat fun and impressive game, but definitely no longer Final Fantasy by this point.

I don't see any MMO in FF12?
There are zero fetch quest like kill x Wolves, no MMO Dungeons etc???
If FF12 is an Offline MMO what about Tales of Arise, Star Ocean 6, Xenoblade 3?
And I don't know what you mean with endless grinding?

They're talking about how boring the presentation of the gameplay is. Character focused in the center of the camera, boring autoattacks, character standing around waiting for his next autoattack, etc. No battle music, the zone music is still playing, etc. It doesn't have the cool, cinematic presentation of other FF games where the camera frames the characters dramatically and the characters are striking cool poses and such and has appropriate music and such. Xenoblade does feel like MMO combat in that regard, though you do at least get combat music.

But most MMOs I played have not been like FF12 at all. Combat in these is usually very flashy?
Auto Attack is the same as using Attack in other FF's, of course if you put it as gambit they autoattack.
FF14/SWTOR/ESO has battle music when fighting enemies but still is a MMO. I don't see it.

cool, cinematic presentation of other FF games

Yeah but what has that to do with MMOs, there are many other JRPG like that :D

 

[Volourn]

FF8 is the best. Period. Game over. End of discussion. NEXT.

 

[Ash]

Volourn

Play with this: Final Fantasy 8: Requiem

You haven't truly experienced the game's potential without. Before, it was highly flawed, still a gem yes, but wasn't quite the game it should have been. If you like the game, you owe it to yourself to play the (mostly) fully realized version.

Meh. 7 has better gameplay and worldbuilding too. I don't consider MMO-ification of systems and endless grinding to be particularly good gameplay. Still a somewhat fun and impressive game, but definitely no longer Final Fantasy by this point.

I don't see any MMO in FF12?
There are zero fetch quest like kill x Wolves, no MMO Dungeons etc???
If FF12 is an Offline MMO what about Tales of Arise, Star Ocean 6, Xenoblade 3?
And I don't know what you mean with endless grinding?

They're talking about how boring the presentation of the gameplay is. Character focused in the center of the camera, boring autoattacks, character standing around waiting for his next autoattack, etc. No battle music, the zone music is still playing, etc. It doesn't have the cool, cinematic presentation of other FF games where the camera frames the characters dramatically and the characters are striking cool poses and such and has appropriate music and such. Xenoblade does feel like MMO combat in that regard, though you do at least get combat music.

That too, but I WAS referring to the fetch quests. That do indeed exist. Bounty boards, collect 5 wolf pelts. The significantly grindy nature of the game. The world, story, quests & events lacking soul. The abandonment of prior gameplay, storytelling, audio and visual styles. And indeed, the loss to visuals by going 3D (though that started with 10).

I enjoyed the game, I do consider it a worthy game unlike anything that came after, it does have soul (just less), but it was no longer Final Fantasy. All the decline from 90s standards mostly starts with 10 though.

 

[mediocrepoet]

FF8 is the best. Period. Game over. End of discussion. NEXT.

Man, with that sort of retarded opinion, you are probably a fan of NWN too.

 

[911 Jumper]

No X-2 fans?

 

[Ash]

X-2 is the same as 10 and 12 - as in still most definitely respectable and enjoyable, but quite a steep decline from 90s standards.

I actually replayed it a few months back. It is very creative with its gameplay, from random interactive events like female to female massages, being able to change job/class mid-battle and even systems in place to encourage doing just that, many awesome mini-games like sphere break or the gun challenge in besaid, inclusion of some basic platforming which I love and should have became standard, great systems in general, but also stupid shit like monkey-pairing in Zanarkand or catching chocobos in the Mi'hen highroads. Plenty gameplay and story C&C. Engaging combat. As per 90s FF standard every minute of the game is always throwing new forms of interactivity, puzzles or gameplay twists at you. The last gameplayfag FF along with 12 (although people are too fucking dumb to realize FF used to be notably gameplayfag apparently) and it goes out in style, except sadly, what truly lets it down is:

1. the vast majority of the game is retracing FFX level design and content, multiple times over. New level inclusions sometimes leave something to be desired too, at least visually, being all 3D modelled and lacking detail (lazy caves with no detail) while FFX used a mix of 3D modelling and classic pre-rendered beauty.
2. Is also a little too easy to exploit. The base difficulty is overall actually fairly respectable as far as the series goes, but I got the lady luck class (very hard to obtain, but doable), equipped all characters with it to rush-learn the double XP ability, and just played the entire rest of the game with a x3 lady luck party just spamming attack endlessly and outgrowing the enemies. This strategy was not challenged by the game, even bosses (well, along with switching to a overdrive class in a pinch). This kind of ruined it for me and so I never did any of the vast late game high difficulty optional content standard to the series of the time. They should have made this class exclusive to Yuna.
3. Just three characters make up your party, and the writing and acting while...fun and different, it can get a little much, and well don't let anyone you know IRL witness you playing the game as an adult if you value their opinion of you. DUCK SOUP!

Anyway, nobody in their right mind should ever vote this game as their favorite. Nor 1 through 4, nor 10-12. It's 5-9 or bust. That is where the overall quality is simply unrivalled in the series. And yet here we are, with retard-tier Final Fantasy 4 at many votes. Decline-enablers with zero mental faculty crawling in the woodwork...

 

[grimace]

What are the best re-translation mods?

Final Fantasy VI: Revised Old Style Edition
https://www.ff6hacking.com/forums/thread-3979.html

Does Final Fantasy 8 have an improved English translation?

 

[wwsd]

The third Final Fantasy for the NES is better than its immediate predecessor in my book, though I'd rank it a bit below the very first one. It has a job system, like FFV, but it was implemented in a less satisfactory way. Mild spoiler about the latter for an example: in FFIII you reach a certain point in the game where you are pretty much forced to switch all of your characters to a certain niche-ish job (and train them at it) in order to survive a boss battle.

The spoiler is not really a spoiler anymore it seems. It's discussed in just about any retrospective about these games (nowadays I watch more retrospectives than play the damn games, thanks YouTube algo) and it's even featured in the promo screenshots for the pixel remaster:

Spoiler

Gonna play this now without spoiling myself further. It's the one game of FFs 1-6 that I never tried. From everything I read and hear about it, it's a damn good game and the pixel remaster is a pretty good version of it (wouldn't consider the pixel remasters for the SNES games in a hurry).

 

[turkishronin]

FFXIII is the best and I'm willing to die on this hill

 

[goregasm]

I voted 3 but I always get confused because I'm not Japanese, is it 6 or 3?

 

[mediocrepoet]

I voted 3 but I always get confused because I'm not Japanese, is it 6 or 3?

Given that there's an option for 3 and for 6, I would suggest that 3 is 3.

That's my big brain moment for today.

 

[wwsd]

Not sure if serious, but 3 is the Famicom game with the job system. 6 is the SNES game with the storyfag emphasis and the opera scene that was released as 3 in the US, because the real FFs 2, 3 and 5 didn't originally get a US release.

 

[911 Jumper]

I only scratched the surface of FF13 back in 2011 (put in about 12 hours). Since then I've got the whole Lightning trilogy on disc and I'm looking forward to starting FF13 properly at some point – and gradually working through the trilogy.

I think FF15 and FF16 have helped to improve the image of FF13 (and its sequels), at least for me.

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

FF13 is very good. Fun combat, great aesthetics (best looking game on PS3 and Xbox 360), great music, decent story. My biggest gripe would be that you don't get to go exploring and sidequesting and tackling difficult superbosses until very late into the game, and the weapon crafting was tedious. The most conspicuous thing about FF13 is that it's not a Final Fantasy game. It doesn't meet the fan expectations for what a FF game should be. There is no exploration, a lot of the charm of prior FF worlds is gone, and the setting is very futuristic. Only 2 out of 13 chapters are set in a wilderness, the rest of the game is spent in urban cities or industrial environments, which isn't the exciting fantasy adventure that fans want. The linear dieselpunk dystopia of FF7 was only 1 out of 4 discs, the rest was your usual fantasy adventure of trekking through a vast wilderness. If the game hadn't been branded as a Final Fantasy title, it would have been much better received.

For the best experience you want to play it on PC with the mods that fix the PC port and add in the higher bitrate cinematics from the console version.

 

[Yuber]

FF13 is very good. Fun combat, great aesthetics (best looking game on PS3 and Xbox 360), great music, decent story. My biggest gripe would be that you don't get to go exploring and sidequesting and tackling difficult superbosses until very late into the game, and the weapon crafting was tedious.

The problem was the 20h long tutorial until they take the wheels off.
If they would let you do what you want from the beginning I would have enjoyed this game much more.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

Da fug is wrong with you people, everything after IX sucks sweaty landwhale ass. Beurk.

 

[Beastro]

Tactics. Fite me irl.

Best story, best combat, best characters. Main series is full of plot-faggotry and (usually) nothing else.

Spoiler

I have not played IX, and XII onwards.

Only issue with Tactics is when the story really gets into the main threat in the last half of the game Ramza starts ranting grade school political diatribes before every battle. Gets so tiresome so quickly.

 

[Falksi]

I'm having to do a double-take with people saying FF13 is good. It's not just not-good, it's fucking garbage. I can only assume that those people haven't played the better, earlier entries such as FF5.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

FF XIII is the worst RPG I've ever completed --- assuming it should even be considered an RPG. Someone in the Japanese FF fanbase termed FF XIII the "Great Japanese Tunnel Simulator", because the game mostly consists of the player running forward through corridor after corridor, without even a pretense of exploration, only with combats alternating with cut-scenes. It isn't until around the 25-hour mark that the game delivers its final tutorials and unlocks all combat roles. It is also at this point that the game spits the player out into a superficially open area, but even this openness is deceptive, because if the player ignores optional monster hunts and simply proceeds to finish the game then the player will experience another 15 hours of running down tunnels. Moreover, the combat is terrible, as the player only has direct control over one character in your party, with the gameplay instead centering around shifting the roles, such as sentinel (defender) or medic (healer), assigned to party members. Also, the characters are the worst in any main series Final Fantasy, while the plot is essentially finished at the 20-hour mark, meaning halfway through the game assuming the player doesn't waste time on later sidequests hunts.

 

[Ash]

It's very much representative of gaming's peak decline years. Just another great series that got turned into utter shit. Same fate as every other.

Game developers have a collective responsibility to society to further it, or at least not damage it, as much as any other. If hell exists they will burn in it for eternity for selling out their values, turning kid's brains to mush with braindead gameplay, turning them into gambling addicts etc.

 

[Ash]

Don't roll your eyes at me you mediocre fuck.

 

[Ash]

FF13 is very good. Fun combat, great aesthetics (best looking game on PS3 and Xbox 360), great music, decent story. My biggest gripe would be that you don't get to go exploring and sidequesting and tackling difficult superbosses until very late into the game, and the weapon crafting was tedious. The most conspicuous thing about FF13 is that it's not a Final Fantasy game. It doesn't meet the fan expectations for what a FF game should be. There is no exploration, a lot of the charm of prior FF worlds is gone, and the setting is very futuristic. Only 2 out of 13 chapters are set in a wilderness, the rest of the game is spent in urban cities or industrial environments, which isn't the exciting fantasy adventure that fans want. The linear dieselpunk dystopia of FF7 was only 1 out of 4 discs, the rest was your usual fantasy adventure of trekking through a vast wilderness. If the game hadn't been branded as a Final Fantasy title, it would have been much better received.

For the best experience you want to play it on PC with the mods that fix the PC port and add in the higher bitrate cinematics from the console version.

Got to fact check you. Even Midgar, the most linear part of the game, isn't as linear as you think. Recall the wall market, which is a somewhat open town you spend some time in, even if it's not huge. Recall the upper levels of Shinra HQ which require exploration and puzzle-solving to progress, or even the entry to these floors that offers you the choice of taking the stairs (never do this lol) or the front entrance. It's not vast, but calling it linear equivalent to FF13 isn't quite right either. FF13 is truly linear. Not this.

Also there is "only" three discs, and the majority of the game (>50%) takes place on the first. Not just midgar.

 

[Hirato]

FF13 isn't that bad, I'd give it maybe a 5.5/10 rating if I'm being generous.

It does remains recognisably final fantasy, and uses many of the series' leitmotifs for its design and gameplay.
It kind of also has a thematic reason for its linearity; the whole cast is trying to fight fate and not really getting anywhere with it.
And the trilogy has what I'd personally seem some of the best FF music ever composed.

It's nowhere near the worst final fantasy ever made. FFXV is a much stronger contender in that respect.
It's nowhere near the worst RPG either. There are far more worthy contenders for that title; Fallout 3 instantly springs to mind.

 

[mediocrepoet]

FF13 isn't that bad, I'd give it maybe a 5.5/10 rating if I'm being generous.

It does remains recognisably final fantasy, and uses many of the series' leitmotifs for its design and gameplay.
It kind of also has a thematic reason for its linearity; the whole cast is trying to fight fate and not really getting anywhere with it.
And the trilogy has what I'd personally seem some of the best FF music ever composed.

It's nowhere near the worst final fantasy ever made. FFXV is a much stronger contender in that respect.
It's nowhere near the worst RPG either. There are far more worthy contenders for that title; Fallout 3 instantly springs to mind.

I'd rather play Fallout 3 than FFXIII. Of course, 13 killed me enough I couldn't even bring myself to boot 15, so there's that.

That corridor simulator thing, I don't think I've ever made it passed the first hour or two of 13, it's such a boring shitty cutscene slog followed by running down a corridor. What the fuck were they thinking?

 

[Butter]

I'd rather play Fallout 3 than FFXIII. Of course, 13 killed me enough I couldn't even bring myself to boot 15, so there's that.

That corridor simulator thing, I don't think I've ever made it passed the first hour or two of 13, it's such a boring shitty cutscene slog followed by running down a corridor. What the fuck were they thinking?

Motomu Toriyama's Wikipedia article is a gold mine. This guy started directing on FFX, which was also aggressively linear.

Toriyama believes his strength is in directing games that are very story-driven. He also thinks that it becomes very difficult to tell a compelling story when the player is given a huge amount of freedom to explore.

...

Toriyama has stated that the aim of the linear game design used in the first half of Final Fantasy XIII was to feel like watching a film. This was done to absorb the player into the story and to introduce them to the characters and their battle abilities without becoming distracted or lost.

Basically he's a fucking hack and shouldn't be in charge of making RPGs.