Memories and Prospects of Square and Final Fantasy

[BabyHeadCrab]

FF Nostalgia and/or hopes thread.

Now, it's been a while since I've played a jRPG--and I've been told they aren't dead, but rather live on in handhelds and games never localized for the west. But I'm going to do a bit of a retrospective on my favorite entry on the series. You should too.

My favorite character in the series, probably Quistis--who, I think, is one of the most under appreciated FF characters. Though I suppose her role is to be condescended upon by snooty ol' Squall. That talk to a wall line is priceless, Squall is quite the ****.

Anyways, yeah, Quistis was boneable. FF8 is my favorite game in the franchise, go ahead and hate me for it. I'm even a little turned on by Irvine's femininity. I miss androgyny in my RPGs dammit.

My heart will always belong in Balamb Garden as a noble Seed--fierce with my Gunblade and brimming with wit. Edea will be free and together we SeeDs will defeat Ultemecia.

Seriously though, amazing soundtrack--great convoluted JRPG plot, funny characters and my favorite Square artists.

FF9 is also a class act, I prefer both to 7. X and X-2 are fun, but unforgivably stupid and the English VOs kill me. The MMOs I don't even count.

What an embarrassment to gamers in both the east and west that the series has become such utter throwaway linear cliched, cutesy garbage.

Also: nostalgia and I have a good relationship.

Your favorite FF and why, where would you like the series to go if it ever returns from the abyss? More than one line would be awesome.

 

[bobtheskull]

My favourite has, and will always be, 7. It was the first one that I played and the sheer scale of it blew me away. I have very fond memories of it. And sorry, but 8 was probably my least favourite. I didn't like the mechanics of it much, and the story bored me to tears when it wasn't confusing me. Never finished it as it really did my head in every time you'd get into the story then it flipped to the 'other group'. Always enjoyed 4 and 9 too. X, not so much. X2 was utter drivel to me. 12 was pretty good for the most part.

There are so many of them and spin offs that I'm hard pressed to come up with favourites over each other. I even have fond memories of Mystic Quest, which was a Final Fantasy game everywhere but the UK (which, incidentally is the first Mana game - before they changed the mechanics to what Mana was).

 

[morgs]

FF VII is probably my personal favorite, I like the characters, story, soundtrack and locations, it just fits well with me. I never really got into VIII, but I loved IX and X also (I probably liked X less than the former). Of course nostalgia plays a big part in my fondness for these ones. As far as XIII goes, I played it but didn't enjoy it a whole lot. The story was way too out there, and I hate how the soundtrack is so jazzy. Also 90% of the characters annoyed me.

I don't know who my favorite series character is, probably Cloud.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

I found Tidus to be too cliched anime hero--and his voice acting frustrated me. The art, however, was stunning--as was the underwater football type minigame.

It was a genuinely good game, I enjoyed X-2 as well. They were just deeply flawed and headed towards what I consider the downfall of the series. I hope Ni No Kuni's U.S. port will be splendid--I'm actually quite ready for a lengthy and genuinely good jRPG. I feel like it's been since Skies of Arcadia since I've had that sensation. Or maybe Chrono Cross.

 

[bobtheskull]

My favourite character is probably Vincent, or even Cid or Red from FF7. Yuffy irritated me soooo much and I hated her storyline. Loved Vivi from FF9. And Steiner, even though he was a tool.

Can't remember the last time I played a decent JRPG. Recently replayed Terranigma on my old SNES. That game was awesome in its time. Felt quite tedious on the replay though.

 

[Bad^Hat]

7, natch. It was basically my introduction to RPGs in general so it's always gonna hold that special place in my cold, dark, jaded little gamer heart. It's hard to nail down why, and how much nostalgia is responsible for the impact it had on me, but everything had such a memorable tone to it. The world, art, characters and music all combined to create something that really stuck with you, even if some of the individual pieces were a little weak - certain characters and plot points, for instance, but JRPGs will always have some of those. Except for Cid because Cid is great. Siddown and drink your GODDAMN TEA.

Also I'm convinced that no one will ever make a magic system as ingenious as materia.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

Biggs and Wedge, bra. Do they still put them in every game?

 

[bobtheskull]

Biggs and Wedge, bra. Do they still put them in every game?

That just made me remember the brothel sequence. The first time I managed to get all the best Items and Cloud got picked to go in, man I nearly wet myself laughing at the sequences in there!

They still put a Cid/Sid character, or reference in every game as far as I'm aware.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

Ah yes, Cid/Sid--wise and sometimes jolly and fat. Always seemingly wise in a position of presumed leadership.

Where did all the FF writing talent go? Wonder what studios these guys fled to.

 

[Laivasse]

Glad I'm in the predictable 'FF7 cHuMz ^__________________^' club. Even within the context of this thread alone it's a cliché, but It Has A Special Place In My Heart©

I used to play it with my mate, on a PC behind the counter of his dad's hi-fi shop after school, while munching on Singapore fried noodles from next door's takeaway. We'd sit there ripping the piss out of the dialogue and the primitive animations - prime example being Barret's fists-of-parkinsons-disease-rage - but at the same time we totally bought into the atmosphere and the world. For a kid like me who only owned a Saturn, playing the sexily anti-aliased version of the playstation's flagship RPG was a window into another world - the world of the kids who didn't always somehow get stuck with the shittest console in the console wars. I couldn't get over the effect of those 2D drawn backgrounds used as 3D environments. I'd walk to the bus stop in the evenings with stuff like the Midgar sewers music playing in my head and couldn't wait to get back to my friend's place to play some more the next day.

My friend was a lazy bastard though and played most of the game with a trainer cheat. He'd be whacking the Midgar Zolom with Knights of the Round or carving frogs in half with Odin without ever having to search out a single Summon materia. I managed to nick the CDs off him and play the game properly on my first PC as a solo experience, which was when it burnt itself into my psyche as a favourite for the ages.

Later on I played through FFs 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9 & 10 but none of them captured my imagination in the same way. That same friend and I sank over 100 hours into FF10, beating the Dark Aeons and Penance, but never really enjoyed it. We laughed for 5 minutes straight when we beat Penance by simply giving Yojimbo every last Gil we'd amassed through all those hours, crossing fingers, then watching him turn around and one-shot the bastard, but that was by far the highlight.

FF6 pretty much lived up to its strong reputation even though I approached it as a latecomer. FFs 5 and 8 I failed to finish through boredom with the story. FF9 I enjoyed a lot, right up until I ran out of time with the PSOne I'd borrowed and had to go leave the country. Now I can't remember the name of a single character in it, so meh.

As it stands, I've lost essentially all interest in the franchise. Since FF10 - and probably including FF10 - I've seen no appeal in the art style or character design Squenix has chosen for any of them, and from what I've heard the gameplay aint no hot shit neither. Then again, close to 30 years of age maybe you just grow out of Japanese androgyny and barely coherent plotlines garnished with moogle fanservice.

 

[Dr.Demento]

Final Fantasy VI. (or FF III in the US) Everything about that game was epic and no other FF has EVER come close to capturing my imagination like VI except for maybe VII, which is still a distant second. Music, story, characters, EVERYTHING was awesome except for the graphics, and those were too back in the day. I lost interest in the FF franchise after FFIX. Shit started getting stupid and confusing starting with FFX, and don't even get me started on X-2. Gay, gay, gay.

FFXII is a minor exception though and was a huge improvement over X and X-2. The gambit system and real-time MMO style combat was interesting, but a few things kept it from being a masterpiece in my eyes. The artwork, namely the summons, I felt were too busy and colorful as many of them I couldn't even tell what the hell they were. I just don't really care for the post FF IX artwork tbh. Also, the prerequisites for some of the summons were outrageous too and ended up just being impractical.

Anyways, the series took a nose dive yet again with XIII which I have no desire to even try. There's simply no hope for SquareEnix anymore. Their glory days have past. -_-

(EDIT: Strangely, I just noticed me and Laivasse have similar tastes in the FF department.)

 

[Higlac]

I can't say much about the FF series as a whole, but I enjoyed a translated version of III on the nes, and Golden Sun was amazing. I ought to play more jrpgs but I have no time.

 

[ShinRa]

I'm not going to sit here and say what's already been said about 7, but yes, I feel the exact same way. It is and always will be a staple in my gaming life. They just don't make games like this anymore. Onward, 8 is probably my next favorite. 10 and 12 were good too, but I feel like 13 and everything they've made since 12 has kind of been on the decline.

With that said, I have UNGODLY high hopes for Versus 13. It looks to me like they're bringing the dark, gritty, visceral side back to RPGs. No release date yet as of now though. And that saddens me.