[Aksannyi]

I'm terrible, I know, but I've never actually played an entire FF game all the way through. I'm partially through FF1 now, and I do plan to play them all, but the games I know even remotely are because I've watched someone else play through them. What little extra I know is from wikipedia and various fansites.

I desperately want to play all of them, but time sucks.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Originally Posted by Icemage

Twilight Princess is one of the most tediously boring RPGs in the franchise. The "new car shine" wears off after about 10 hours into the game after you realize that combat in the game is a total crock since all the "optional advanced combat techniques" you learn throughout the game mean nothing because they're all unnecessary for beating anything (and most of them are so tricky to execute that you end up taking more damage/time than you would if you'd just waded in and button-mashed). It does have some redeeming features, but the game itself is so... milquetoast. If it weren't for Midna, your bitingly sarcastic sidekick, I'd have fallen asleep playing the game.

Metroid Prime 3, on the other hand, is a very nice addition to the franchise. A worthy successor to Metroid Prime 1 (let's try and forget that Echoes was ever released), and unlike so very many Wii games (Twilight Princess comes to mind...), the motion controls actually make a lot of sense.

I'd rank FF12 above Twilight Princess, but below Metroid Prime 3 Corruption as far as enjoyability goes. FF12 needed a stronger storyline, and it needed to lose that stupid license board.


Icemage

(1) Zelda isn't an RPG, no Zelda is. Zelda is adventure.
(2) Its hard for any Zelda game to surpass Majora's Mask or OOT
(3) I'm still gonna get it.
(4) I will not forget Echoes because it was what Metroid Fusion should have been.

Feba - Sarcasm fails on the internet, particularly yours and Murphie's

Aksannyi - FFIV, FFVI and FFX will more than bring you up to speed with the series.

[Balfree]

If not for the gameplay, do it for the storylines, they are probably the best stories i've been told during my childhood, teenhood, and currenthood o.O;

[Evion]

I started as a young freshman in high school, only having played Mario Bros before, when I friend said "Here borrow my FFVII". Well, needless to say to anyone who've played 7, I've been playing RPGs ever since. I moved into time-based.

Suikoden II- Must Play (All other Suikodens are gay)
Breath of Fire 3- Must Play (All other Breath of Fires are gay)
Chrono Trigger- Some say a must, but I wasn't too impressed
Chrono Cross- Great Game
FF Tactics- Mastered it 7 times... So, yes please
Brigandine- A Sleeper! One of the best tactical games in history
FF8- Played the card game more than the story...
FF9- Boring, pushed through it
FFX- The most perfect turn-based RPG ever made
FFX-2- I cried... Doesn't FINAL FANTASY mean anything?
Hoshigami- Yes
Saiyuki- Yes
Vangaurd Bandits- Yes
Valkyrie Profile- Yes Please!
Lunar- Only "Silver Star story"
FF I- Yes
FF II- No
FF III- Didn't buy the DS Yet...
FF IV- Same
FFV and FFVI- A must for anyone who follows FF
Dragon Quest 8- Nearly perfect (All other DQs not as good)
FFXII- Why did SE ruin the battle system of FF?
FFXI- Now that I have time to waste in my life, I'll never play anything else again... sob

[Murphie]

The failure is on the part of the reader though, unfortunately. I'm just saying.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Dunno why people keep bagging on the story of FFXII. It was by far the most refreshing story of the last, oh, six games. It didn't have a central hero so you could pretty much root for your favorites instead of having to cope with some emo Nomura/Kitase character being the protagonist.

Not only that, it wasn't campy. It has the maturity and political intrigue that you usually find in a Tactics Ogre or Fire Emblem game, as opposed to a Final Fantasy. That shouldn't come as a surprise considering it was from the people that created Tactics Ogre and Final Fantasy Tactics.

I kinda prefer to see wars portrayed in something more realistic than "They're all en evil empire." In fact, it was hard to see the actual villain of the game as such from the very start.

stuff

I pretty much assumed Vayne to be the villain from the start, but his character wasn't overwrought like other villains, he was more developed as a character by the actions of the judges and his brother than giving him some deeply detailed past. It made Vayne feel every bit as human as your party than it did some insane, evil guy that must be stopped.

He was evil, though, very black-hearted. But not insane in the I-hate-hate-hate-all-of-you or Mother-will-show-me kind of way.

Originally Posted by Murphie

The failure is on the part of the reader though, unfortunately

Its all in the delivery, unfortunately. When Feba fails at sarcasm, he resorts to large text. When you fail at sarcasm, you blame the reader.

[Evion]

At least Murphie isn't an ASS with his sarcasm... Feba an Mhurron will go so far as to make fun on the size of your package...

[Murphie]

Leave me out of it, please.

[Omniblast]

Chrono Trigger was a damn good game.
However it doesn't compare with Lufia 2's story line and that frickin' impossible to solve puzzle XD

[Telera]

Originally Posted by Omgwtfbbqkitten

Dunno why people keep bagging on the story of FFXII. It was by far the most refreshing story of the last, oh, six games.

FFXII is probably my favorite now, barring FFT. I adored it for all of its quirks. I didn't like Vaan and Penelo much, but I did enjoy how the story seemed to focus more on the war as a character, or the political powers as characters, rather than the people moving within them.

And Vayne was the most 'normal' villian we've had in ages. Seph, while I like him, is totally cracked. Kuja was cracked. Kefka annoyed me with his Team Rocket like penchant for showing up to annoy the piss out of me. (I also had him sounding like James in my head, that didn't help matters.) I could go on. But Vayne, while I knew he was 'bad', I also enjoyed his character immensely.

I loved Basch to pieces, I didn't find it lame about his brother, as it wasn't retconned in there. It also added a dynamic between the two of them that I enjoyed. Balthier was just loads of awesome, and I love that he's in the PSP FFT port. Ashe, while she may not have finally gone *snap* at least wasn't totally mary sue and two dimensional like some other older FF character women that I shall leave nameless in the pursuit of thread peace. I loved everyone *except* Vaan and Penelo and that's because they struck me more as throwbacks to like Zidane and Eiko or something and that makes me want to die.

XII is pure win. And I liked the Gambits too. I'd kill to get the Zodiac Job version released here, but SE is stupid and I'm not importing.

[Murphie]

Originally Posted by Omgwtfbbqkitten

Its all in the delivery, unfortunately. When Feba fails at sarcasm, he resorts to large text. When you fail at sarcasm, you blame the reader.

I'm so not interested in a semantics fight with you (or anyone) today, but suffice it to say that when I say something with (the internet equivalent of) a straight face that is so obviously not meant seriously, and people don't get it, that's really not my fault.

[Malacite]

Vayne was a very good character and I liked him up until the very end.

I agree that the story of 12 was over all much more mature and for the most part well done. Vaan and Basch just kinda ruined it for me though. And Fran was so damn hard to understand with that lisp - _ -

Larsa Balthier and (shit who was the pirate dude @ the end?) ftw!

The battle system was rather frustrating too. It was very nice not having to deal with the "woosh" anymore, but it just felt so ... fake, I guess. As said before, it would be nice if the A.I. would actually stick to the back row for once. I didn't like the automation of it all though to be honest. Iknow it was the only way to make it work, but still.

Beating the final boss with absolutely no input (all gambits) on my 1st try with not a single K.O (he went down in like 3 minutes... Basch is disgustingly strong with 2 handed swords) and hardly any cures...

There was little to no sense of accomplishment for me. I felt like I had just sat back and watched myself win, similar to how FFX was an interactive movie.

I still think they could have done a much better job with Vaan's character. Like Feba said, Ashe was basically selfish and I was very disappointed that she just didn't give into her rage. It would have made for a very cool plot twist! Just ONCE let the "main character" be a, if not the villain if but for a short time.

In the end, I still enjoyed it but there were a lot disappointments and I really don't think it deserves the perfect score that Famitsu gave it, but that's all a matter of opinion anyway.


I still hold that SE's best work to date is CoP.

[NicasinXS]

I would'nt worry about getting every single thing in FF9, its a drag to play that game that way I found. I played that game and used a strategy guide (yea i know) then when I got near the endgame I find out that I can't get Excalibur becuase I didn't do some optional quest to give someone a cup of coffee or something like that, a thing you cant return to from a very early point in the game. The thing is that my endgame was fine anyway. You play that chocobo treasure hunter game until your done with it and youll have Ultima Weapon and several other uber gears.

Also the end of the game is retarded easy like many FF games, the optional REAL boss in that game is Ozma (in the sky) and that fight is fun and makes it worth your time 99ing and Ultimizing your characters over.

[Jei]

FF9 to me felt like a slap in the face to the old fans who liked old school FFs.

When 8 came out especially, me a large group of older fans were so dissapointed. We didn't like the loving aspect of the story, we hated Squall, we hated the idea of flying school crashing into each other and fight, we hated drawing/junctioning, we hated enemies that level up like us..... and all the flowers floating everywhere, damn, we thought those were low grade....

There were quite an uproar since FF6 actually that the game was going too far to its previous titles. But 6-7 was still hella fun, so we kinda let that slip. But it got worst when FF8 came out and old fans started crying for old school FF...

Right there, was where we got FF9. Back to old schoo, but in a dorgie way -.-
You want Amano!? here you go
You want SD characters? here you go
You want battle system like previous FF, here you go

It's almost like they slapped everything together into 9 just to shut up the old fans up and not really care what their game turned out like.....

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Originally Posted by Malacite

There was little to no sense of accomplishment for me. I felt like I had just sat back and watched myself win, similar to how FFX was an interactive movie.

Seeing how deeply you had to program the characters via gambit and improvise one various battles, I don't see how FFXII qualifies as "interactive movie."

I especially hate FFX getting tagged that comment, because its not true at all.

Don't give me the BS about not having an "overworld" because that is something RPGs needed to evolve out of. FFX had plenty of content to explore. And If anything FFXII and Dragon Quest VIII, not to mention Elder Scrolls IV, should be setting the standards for overworlds and not some bullshit need for nostalgia. Old school overworlds need to die, they hold the genre back. I only want to see them in remakes, not new RPGs.

And don't let FFX being the first game with voice acting be your support for that argument either. It had the pacing and cutscene expected of a Final Fantasy game. If you're looking for interactive movies where you possibly didn't for half hours to hours at a time, direct your attention to the real guilty parties - Xenosaga and Metal Gear Solid.

I still think they could have done a much better job with Vaan's character. Like Feba said, Ashe was basically selfish and I was very disappointed that she just didn't give into her rage. It would have made for a very cool plot twist! Just ONCE let the "main character" be a, if not the villain if but for a short time.

So I take it you like the contrived Prince of Persia sequels, complete with angst and emo-metal bands added to the soundtrack?