Topic: Final fantasy discussion thread

@kyleforrester87: @NathanUC: There was a ton of hate for the linearity of ff10 when it released, nearly every magazine sited it as a problem (although you can travel back later in the game) the problem ff13 had is it ditched longstanding ff traditions as well as being linear with corridor like locations. FF10s story is brilliant, but you have to understand what the hell is going on - what's sin? whys it attacking everything? What happened to Zanzibar? Whys Lulu not the love interest as yunas a mardy cow? Is wakka really that thick? Whys khimari following us like your friends friend who just stares at you all the time and you want to get rid of him on a night out? FF13s story is good (but not great Imo) too, but I would argue vanille and hope are two of the worst characters in any ff and really bring the story crashing around them. Who's even the bad guy in ff13, everytime I think of the game lost odyssey comes into my head.

@ApostateMage: FF6 is good, play the first 2 hours where you meet most of the main cast - the game gets better but it gives you a good taste of what's to come. The sprite work is revered as the best from the 16bit generation. I think FF1-3 should be missed, apart from the obvious legacy they left you would struggle to enjoy them nowadays.

Cheers fellas, IV and VI it is then. Out of the Final Fantasy games that i've played (7,9,10,12,13,13-2 and 14) I'd say FF12 and 9 are my favourites but i've enjoyed them all, even 13 after giving it a second chance. As for the new 15, i thought the combat in the demo was horrible and i don't reckon i could slog it out for the entire game even if the rest of it was really good.

@ApostateMage: You haven't played 8? Sod 6 and 4 go and play that.

I guess I didn't realize it had gotten flack for that. I was an Xbox gamer at the time thanks, at least that makes me feel less alien for not liking it.

I get all that's going on in the story, I just don't really care about any of it because it all seems so.. empty? I just got to the lightning fields, so I'm still hoping it picks up soon. I agree that Fang and Vanilla were VERY poorly developed characters, it was Snow, Serah, and Lightning that really stand out as fantastic characters to me. The villain in XIII was pretty vague until the end, but Caius and Noel's story are my favorite in that trilogy. Caius is one of the best villains in the whole Final Fantasy realm in my opinion.

@NathanUC: 13-2 was such a strange game, I enjoyed the mechanics but lightnings sister again was such a crap character I struggled to care about what was going on and put the controller down 60% through.

Maybe its not the characters, maybe its me. After mass effect and tlou have raised the levels of story building its hard to have a connection to many of the characters in squares recent jrpgs.

Does anyone know how big the maps are in World of Final Fantasy? Most of the videos I've watched so far mainly focused on the battle system.

I think Final Fantasy is generally on the good side of characterisation as far as JRPGs go - these days I really have troubles tolerating Tales of, Star Ocean and Atelier characters even if I like the game systems. And I used to like them. But yes, western games as Mass Effect affected me.

That said, it's not you: Serah and Noel are bland, generic shonen jump kind of characters and really dampened my appreciation of XIII-2. The game, as XIII itself, has a top class battle system though, it must be said.

I've never played any sequels to 13...and I probably won't now. How did they interact with the main story, if at all? Cheers!

yeah what they should have done instead of bringing in that stupid time travel mechanic was have you plays as Lightning going on a mission to save Fang and Vanille after they turned into the Crystal pillar to hold up cocoon

still we all know why we got FFXIII-2 and LR because Square had sold 3 FFXIII games to sony and when Agito became Type-0 and Vs became XV they had to fill the gap

it's obvious with the way FFXIII ended it was NEVER meant to be a trilogy because it had a resolute almost happy ending

Agreed on the battle system, FF15s system so far looks rubbish in comparison. My favourite battle system is FF10s by far, then FF13, then FF tactics, then the rest. I didn't like the fiend recruitment stuff of 13-2 either, but then I'm not into Pokemon - give me 6 plus real characters to work with anyday.

Ok pushsquarers what Final Fantasy should I play next once I have finished the bunker (great game btw)? Final Fantasy 7 ps4 version, Final Fantasy 9 on the vita or Final Fantasy 10-2 hd remake on the vita?

@themcnoisy: Final Fantasy 9, it's an underrated classic FF game

Agreed.

Final Fantasy 7 is kind of a must, especially since there is a remake on the way, if you want to be part of that conversation in the future.
That said, it's kind of overrated imho. 6 is very similar but with better graphics (early polygon graphic aged really badly), soundtrack and characters.
Final Fantasy 9 is adorable! I'd wait for the inevitable PS4 version though.

That leads to 10-2, that is a silly, lighthearted game with deep, old school battle system. It's a joy to play, just don't expect the usual "epic" vibe and you'll love it, especially if you are into older FF with job systems like 3 or 5.

So yeah 7 or 10-2 basically, for different reasons. 9 is probably the best among these for me but I'd say wait for the HD poly models and you'll love it even more.

@FullbringIchigo: @Feena: Cool, I've played ff9 quite a few times but it never grabbed me. So this time I will play it thoroughly and enjoy it for what it is and finally finish it!

I would say that if you've never played a Final Fantasy game before then X makes most sense to start with in 2016. I don't think it's very good, but a lot of people do, and it's easy to get to grips with while retaining much of what made the Final Fantasy series popular to begin with. If you like X, then you can feasibly move backwards to the likes of IV, VI, VII or IX, since their battles and systems work in a way not too far removed from X, or you could move forward to the likes of XII or XIII if you hate yourself.

Sorry to come up with something else but does any of you guys know if the upcoming World of Final Fantasy is going to be compatible with Vita TV? I can't find informations online.

@FullbringIchigo: @Feena: @johncalmc: Sorry team, I've played every FF game in the mainline series including the likes of Tactics, Crystal Chronicles and some soon offs. FF9 (never completed), 10-2 (played once after finishing uni) and ff7 ps4 version (played ps1 version 7/8 times, 2/3 times to completion) - I was asking what you all would consider the best for me to play next out of those 3 games, I'm a big FF fan.

Im probably gonna go with 9 to be fair unless anyone knows if there's a hd remake planned of some description.

@themcnoisy: there is a better looking version on steam but currently no console version is planed (i asked Square on Twitter a few months ago)

@themcnoisy: You should play FFIX. For my money it's the best of the PSOne games, and those three are way better than anything in the series that followed them. I'm actually really hoping they knock up a PS4 version of the game so I can play it again with trophies.

@themcnoisy:

Yes, but considering how well the ps4 port of the steam version of ff7 sold on the PSStore, I'd be surprised if a port doesn't show up sometime.

I agree with @johncalmc: that IX is the best of the PSone era, but I prefer XII to either of those, imho Final Fantasy has always been about innovation and the PSone era didn't take too many risks with the combat systems. I know XII is a polarising game though, even if it was released to critical acclaim.