The Final Fantasy Series Thread

[Commonmind]

Ugh, I must be getting old ...

Amen, Brother.

[Cayal]

Well it's here, packaged, waiting for me to watch it and I gotta go to work...urgh.

[Cayal]

I'll preface this by saying I loved Advent Children DVD version.

But...(and no spoilers)


Advent Children Complete completely blows it away. The 26 minutes they add makes a whole lot of difference. The story makes more sense, they clarify a lot of things.
They also changed the script on scenes in the DVD version which also improves the story and gets rid of the silly phrases.
With Crisis Core out, there are more Zack scenes and in relation to that game, as well as more references to VII, including Sector 7 plate crash.

They also changed the music a bit, which was interesting.
Best of all, the end fight with Sephiroth is improved, especially at the end (and makes a great reference to VII).

I think it is definitely worth the purchase.

[Cayal]

AND!!!!! Nanaki TALKS!!!

[Sephiroth]

Wow. It sounds like a must-see!

[Cayal]

This is the best CGI scene from any Final Fantasy game IMO

YouTube - Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core: Sephiroth vs Genesis & Angeal in HD!

[Thadlerian]

Now that this thread is alive and kicking, I thought I'd add some thoughts on Final Fantasy IX, after finally having played it through. The text is related to my previous entry in this thread:

Originally Posted by Thadlerian

I was thinking of summing up my thought on Final Fantasy. So, here's a post I wrote at another forum (the xkcd forum):
(ETC)

So, now I've been through Final Fantasy IX as well. What to say? I think it ranks equal to FFVII in terms of quality and likeability. Technically, it outranks the public's favourite in a number of fields, but it feels lacking in something essential that sets VII apart from the other games. Let's get the details on the table, good and bad.

The best thing about the game is easily the music. The world theme, the romance theme, and several character themes (Freya, Cid, Beatrix {Loss of Me/Protecting my Devotion}, Amarant, Vivi) are all excellent, Black Mage Village is priceless, and You're Not Alone has got to be one of the best video game tracks, especially the live orchestra version.

Second up, the playable characters are all great. In FFVI there were just a lot of them, with hardly any development. In FFVII they stood more out, but interacted only with Cloud, never with each other. FFVIII had memorable characters, but again, no development whatsoever, and only weak interactions. The contrast to FFIX is striking. Already from the beginning, Vivi stands out as highly likeable, and you know he'll see a lot of events in the game. His friendship with Steiner borders on touching, with the big, arrogant man sincerely respecting and encouraging him.

Steiner himself is one of the more intriguing characters of the FF series - the first that I've seen so far that I will call complex. He's a helpless piece of comical relief all right, with his awkward formality, and his being so quick to anger, but he has a nasty streak as well. He likes power, and he likes abusing it. You can see that in how he behaves. Zidane is the first person he's met whom he can't bully and intimidate, and this makes their relationship rather interesting.

Freya spells out "strong character" like few others I've seen. She has style and drama, she can stand on her own, and she has some great moments. The whole section from where we meet her in Lindblum, travel through the atmospheric Gizamaluke grotto, and reach the ruined Burmecia, until she's lying the the rain, defeated and humiliated by Beatrix - it's easily my favourite part of the game.

There is Quina, hated by many, and not much played by me, but easily a far more interesting character than Gogo or Caith Sith, what's with his/her way of seeing him/herself as the real main character, being on a quest to eat, and with the whole Kuja thing as completely uninteresting. Eiko sure is annoying as well, but her introduction, seeing her living alone with the moogles, desperately trying to make Zidane and the others like her, is a moving and enjoyable scene.

The game mechanics themselves feel smoother than in the previous games, and are far better blended with the storyline and setting than in previous games. Unique character ability combinations, the ability to skip eidolon summon movies, and various other details makes the game more forgiving to play.

The storyline in itself is hardly remarkable, but compared to previous games, the storytelling is excellent. The active time event function is great, just the fact that they're letting us have all these little story details is a huge leap from FFVIII. The setting is sweet as well, with cities like Lindblum and Treno, though nothing comes close to the (at times) almost Grim Fandango-ish Midgar in FFVII.

That's the good stuff. On to the bad:

In particularly one respect, the game is a lot like FFVIII: It is loaded up, completely saturated with good stuff in the beginning, to hook players and woo reviewers. Tons of CGI is contrasted by a stark absence of it in the later parts of the game (save for end-CD crenscendi). That might have been rather acceptable, if not for the fact that the story functions in the same way. All the interesting stories and relationships are bunched up in the beginning. Steiner's friendship with Vivi plays an active role, and we're treated with Freya's tragic love of Sir Fratley. None of these sub-plots are referred to again, except for the quick resolution of the Fratley problem by the ultimate end of the game. Long before the characters have actually become interchangeable, their quirks and influences are mostly gone. It's as if the developers got tired of making the game, and just wanted to finish it without too much ado.

Instead, we're treated with unfulfilling side-plots like Steiner's attraction to Beatrix (who's got "fanservice" written all over her in an exceptionally tasteless fashion), and Eiko's sporadically mentioned jealousy of Garnet. Vivi's troubles continue throughout the game, but increasingly more predictably in their expression and in his reactions.

In place of all these promised interacions, we're given the relationship between Zidane and Garnet as the main plot element aside from the "beat the bad guy" quest. Zidane is an improvement over Squall (but so is any person, real or fictional. Or any object, for that sake), and he's got some ambivalence, what's with his less-than-decent behaviour when chasing girls (like the scene when they're climbing into the cargo airship), but ultimately he's as predictable as Ashitaka from Princess Mononoke.

Garnet, on the other hand, is not an improvement over Rinoa (and that's BAD). She's weak (her eidolons are strong, but that's strictly a matter of gameplay, not story), she gets herself into trouble by means of her own bad judgement, and she's generally passive/negative and predictable in her interaction with Zidane. The recipe is simple, a favourite of the Fantasy genre: She is hard to get, until she has been "won", and then she submits completely. Their romance has no nerve, nothing is ever at stake, and there are no dynamic elements. And, worst of all, to fulfill it, Zidane is (essentially) resurrected. I HATE that kind of rubbish. You DON'T resurrect characters (without at least a huge penalty), ESPECIALLY NOT after having a lengthy scene with each of the other characters saying their goodbyes. The final cutscene is cute as hell, but it adds nothing to the story.

There, now I'm out of steam. A strong game in many respects, but harmed by problems with the main storyline and cast, and the absence of good side-plots as soon as characters have been well introduced. Like most anime, there is a humanist/pacifist message, and like most anime, there is no heart or innovation in the presentation of the message whatsoever.

Another video game, in other words. An enjoyable pastime, but one less memorable than Final Fantasy VII.

[mushroomyakuza]

Good post. FFIX is favorably remembered by many, though I always feel it's the most under appreciated of the trilogy of PSOne Final Fantasy games. I, too, LOVE the Active Time Event sequences, and think Square Enix are taking a massive step backwards by not including them in future games. They showed real promise and evened out the characterisation across the ensemble nicely, rather than just focusing on two or three "key" characters, as they did in FFVIII.

I agree with what you say about them making great character intros and not following through though. That is often the case in Final Fantasy, and it's a real shame. Particularly in the more recent games, I feel they try and introduce new characters to add some excitement but don't plan any sub-plots or character arcs for them, and eventually they become nothing but cameo roles that you occassionally draft into battle for their abilities. And as you say, there are some really great locations in FFIX, like Treno, Lindblum, and as far as I'm concerned pretty much the whole of the Outer Continent - that whole story really changed the direction of the game without making it feel artifical, and it's probably my favourite part.

I find it hard to nail exactly why SquareEnix have lost their way, but I am without doubt that they have done so. FFXII was appalingly disappointing. The characterisation was wather thin or non-existent. Vaan and Penelo had virtually no reason to be in the story, yet they were the centre of it while far more compelling characters like Basch and Balthier get pushed to the side. Characters you expect them to develop with backstory never get it (Fran) and the others have the most 2-D personalities in the series' history since Final Fantasy III (not the US one, which is the classic FFVI).

I have genuine concerns about FFXIII. In recent years, it seems, to me at least, that each new FF game, SquareEnix let you play the game a little less, each time. Seriously, just think about the number of times you've thought to yourself "Wow, that looks awesome...I wish I was controlling it". It's becoming increasingly like a movie, losing it's freeform exploration elements, and becoming increasingly narrow and linear. That's not Final Fantasy, not to me. Along with the disappearance of character classes (making the strategy of choosing who to have in your party almost pointless), airships, the world map (this HAS to come back now, seriously), the back-seating of chocobos and minimal amount of side-quests along with the seriously dodgy handling of summons (motorbikes, for God's sake?) and limit breaks, if this direction persists I'm going to start wondering just why they keep calling it Final Fantasy when clearly it's not.

Just my two cents.

[Cayal]

Square Enix released new details on Final Fantasy 14

New Final Fantasy XIV details - Playstation Squad

Anyone actually looking forward to playing another MMORPG? I never played Final Fantasy XI since I refused to pay fees to play a game I bought.
Though I might consider XIV, though I am not really big on MMORPGs.