The Final Fantasy Thread

The website went through another big update recently and we are now being shown some of the role specific skills as well as weapon skills that are available.

The more I see, the more excited I get to nerd it up.

I will for sure being playing this. For when the time comes:

PSN: ClarkeTheViking

Could care less, aside from the fact that apparently Nobuo Uematsu is composing (you stole him from XIII damnit!).

Have just started XIII and am loving it. Graphics are AMAZING in HD. Simply phenomenal.

Yeah the graphics for 13 were great. I'm very blah on it. I know the story will pick up after 3 or 4 hours, but the opening just isn't doing it for me. I don't have a lot of time to sit around and play these days and if I'm going to be playing a game I want to be engaged right away and brought it. With 13 so far I've found myself thinking "why did I pay for this?" Thus far (as I said, I know it will get better) this is the first Final Fantasy I have been underwhelmed playing. I'd almost rather be playing X-2. To each their own right?

Hell last night I put in the expansion for Dragon Age "Awakening"

Just bought the game yesterday. The story is slow going. I'm only on chapter 4, but it looks like instead of giving us the feel of the characters straight away they are cutting in from time to time with flashbacks to progress the characters background.

It is a different idea, I'll give them that.

It maybe slowing the emotional investment into it though. As quite a few big moments have happened so far, yet I don't feel connected to it at all. The mother falling felt tact on and unsurprising.

The gameplay seems to be a mix of X and XII. I always loved the way you leveled up in X and this is very familiar in that sense.

It's still to early for me to decide if this is a yay or just okay installment of the series.

As for FF14, I have been hooked on it since it was first announced, and I even signed up for Beta back in January when it was first available (though didn't get selected lol)

I played FF11 on and off from over 3 years, and I look forward to this one and hope they improved a lot over it predecessor. I'll be in line this year when this FFXIV comes out.

Note to self: Partnering with Scorps

That'd be awesome!

I played with FFXI with absolutely zero people I know. The one's I did meet up with during great gaming sessions I never really partnered with again.

I never felt particularly close to anyone in any of my linkshells as they pretty much only cared about themselves and never helped. I pretty much was on my own and just sat around for long periods of time in Jeuno till I got a party.

Hell a lot of things that are normally done with parties (like finding the items you needs to level past 50 & 55 for example) I did solo (from which I heard is damn near impossible... I was very very lucky lol)

I also managed to get one of my buddies to get in the game, but by the time he bought it, I was 3 years in and was losing interest, so we never partnered.

So yeah, most definitely be seeking your help lol.

Sweet, I've got a buddy who is "hella excited" (his words) to get into this. He has it planned out already:

Archer or Rogue type (probably Archer) as his main 'discipline' with Tanning as his secondary. Anything else if he chooses.

It'll be great fun

Who else in FMW has a PS3 / is getting this so the awesomeness can be spread around?!

I'd probably be a gladiator (i almost always play as a warrior type guy when I start these kind of games) plus he looks cool as fuck. And probably Blacksmith, though I need to read more in these kind of crafting jobs.

Been playing FF13 even more and damn, the game play gets rewarding as fuck, I'm loving it. It's so damn fluid and feels a lot more than just mindless hitting like FFXII was.

Eric Scorpio wrote:

Been playing FF13 even more and damn, the game play gets rewarding as fuck, I'm loving it. It's so damn fluid and feels a lot more than just mindless hitting like FFXII was.

Truth, absolute truth. I get the feeling we're around the same point in the game (just started chapter 6 or 7, I think). The battle system in this is excellent, Paradigm Shifts are tactical and fun to use, requires a lot of thought to get right.

It's still linear for the moment but apparently once it gets further there's a large selection to choose from for EVERYTHING (about 12 hours in from what I've heard).

Also, I never played XI, and MAY get XIV, but do you have to continue paying for it like WoW?

I agree, in FFXII your partners were essentially mindless pre programmed drones, but in this one the paradigm shifts is like taking full control of your partners without actually controlling them. Very tactical indeed, you're right on cue with this.

FFXI was hard... HARD. lol I can't stress that enough, which is good as it catered to more serious gamers... and those perky gil farmers.

I would imagine it'll be the same as WoW or any big name MMO out there. Monthly fees. FFXI had/has them as well, and for such a huge franchise as this, this will definitely have a fee.

You said you never played FFXI, the one thing that no other FF can even compare to that one is the sheer size of the world. It is MASSIVE! That includes the zones. I remember my first walk from Bastok (hume main town) to Jeuno (the central city between the three main towns and where you go after level 20) was a 20-30 minute walk. That first walk is you avoiding everything as you cant kill anything lol.

That is one thing I miss from FFXI... I remember playing it for the first time on my PS2 and was like "Wow, awesome graphics and huge huge worlds" I was in awe. FFXIV looks like 20 times prettier than FFXI. I really hope they keep the huge world size.

Whether I get it will probably depend on whether I have money, haha. I'd be REALLY intrigued to play it, as I do like a good MMORPG every now and again ('specially if it's on the PS3 platform) but money would be the big thing for me, I don't know if I'd play it often enough. We'll see how things go.

Eric Scorpio wrote:

I'd probably be a gladiator (i almost always play as a warrior type guy when I start these kind of games) plus he looks cool as fuck. And probably Blacksmith, though I need to read more in these kind of crafting jobs.

I'm not too sure what I'm going to focus on yet, it's all too exciting haha.

I was thinking Lancer (Dragoon Style) or Gladiator/Marauder, but I have no idea. We'll see what split second decision it is when I pop the game in.


Also XIII has become more entertaining after the initial slog of the start of the game. It's still falling to second place behind Dragon Age: Awakening, but it'll take first when I finish that expansion.

As a long-time FF player, allow me to share my two cents.

I do not like an FF MMORPG that is set with its own world and number. Period. So you can imagine that I was very turned off with XI, and I was also very turned off when they announced XIV was going to be MMO. I don't care if it's an evolution of the genre, but I feel it is an insult to what the FF series has always stood for when an MMO is given its own main slot as a series entry.

The only time I will truly accept an FF MMO is that when it is situated in an already established FF universe. Ivalice, most preferrably, but any other will do as long as they belong in a familiar world. This is why WoW is monumental, a hell of a lot bigger than XI, because a lot more people are familiar with Azeroth and its inhabitants. XI built its universe from the ground up and it simply does not interest me at all, but if it were in a place that I've grown fond of, I would be stoked.

But until then, count me out. I still await an FF that goes back somewhat to its true fantasy roots, and I hope XV does not disappoint. XIII is another aberration in the series, but even then I'm more interested in that than either XI or XIV.

XV should be closer in theme to IX than the recent cyber-style editions.

That's what I'd like.

IX is one of my all-time favorite games in the series.

I finished it for the third time a month or so ago. Love the ending cutscene, haha.

I kinda agree with you Ro, I would love to see an MMO take place in Ivalice. The story has so much depth, from Vagrant Story, to Ogre Battle to Tactics and beyond there is just so much to work off of.

That being said, I welcome a unique world to play around in, otherwise I feel they'd tack on interaction with previous character that wouldn't feel right. So I'm looking forward to being immersed in a new world.

Also on a scale of things, IX is probably up there in my least favorite of the games. The story was neat but not as enthralling as some of the others. I loves Steiner and Vivi and Amarant for the most part, but I just wanted to stab Zidane and Garnet/Dagger in the face the whole time.

Actually FFXI takes place in medieval time.

How much of FFXI have you actually played? I understand your gripe with an MMO taken part of the series number, but don't understand why you feel it should of taken place inside a FF universe.

That makes no sense. It does everything that every other series has done. It has it's own story, its own world, it's own heroes and villains and it contains every relevant things that you would expect to find in most final fantasies. Hell it even has a non linear component that some people have wished Final Fantasy to be.

Plus they already did the whole set FF in a familiar world with FFXII as it was set in Ivalice, which proceeded to be a meh game. (Balthier rocked though ) Plus I'm personally not a big fan of the Ivalice world as I find it to be childish. Or child oriented as opposed to the rest of the FF stuff.

The thing with Wow though, that game was a lot more accessible to get into as opposed to FFXI. Wow made everything easier than FF. FFXI was for hardcores only (though I'm sure that was not their plan) as it made getting anything (weapons, items, gil, exp) such an arduous and time wasting task.

So in short, yes I do agree the MMO's should not have been part of the main series, however, barring the MMO thing, it contains everything else you would expect from the main series.

FFIX was an okay game to me, but I'm with Jay, it's not my fav. Mind you, the REAL FFII, has got to be my least favorite of them all.

Hell here's my FF main series list (minus XIII as I haven't beaten it yet lol)!

1. IV (even beat The After Years expansion for it)
2. X
3. VI
4. I
5. VIII
6. VII
7. XI
8. V
9. IX
10. XII
11. III (could be higher, but a glitch happened on this game very far in where I was no longer able to get back on my boat and haven't replayed it since)
12. II

Never got into FF, I've said a few times I'd pick it up, but I never have. I remember once when me and Celt were in a shop, he had the money, I told him get FFVII (this was roughly when it came out). He did not, chose a different game that was quite poor, and havent really tried again since

Should I pick this one up or not?

This one, as in FFXIII?

I'm a huge fan of the series so I look forward to every game with anticipation (and salivation lol)

But for someone like you who has never played FF before, I don't know if I'd recommend it straight up. If you like RPG's than yes I do recommend it, but be warned it takes many hours before you begin to feel invested in the story. And I'm only 10+ hours in the game.

If anything, for someone who hasn't played FF before, I would recommend FFX, it's new enough not to look like pure garbage (like FFVII, it has not aged well in appearance) and the combat system is relatively easy to get into yet can become complicating enough to be rewarding.. The story is pretty good and for a FF, it actually starts off pretty damn awesome. And Auron is a great FF character just looks so damn cool.

Oh and don't play FFX-2 for a continuation of the story... or for any story lol (Though it's job system is actually quite amazing)

Actually Just thought of a FF list of hardest last bosses.

1. FFV (fucking hard and has that shitty move that petrifies AND kills your character)
2. FFIX (You only hear of him right when you fight him, which I thought was odd, but he is really hard)
3. FFVIII (A long, long, long fight and not exactly easy at first)
4. FFX (Yeah I do not consider Yevon as the last boss as you can`t die lol, Jecht is one of the coolest boss fights in FF ever, tough too)
5. FFVI (4 stages of hell, unless you have leveled up enough, plus it sucks when one of your guys dies right at the end of one of the stages)
6. FFVII (Sephiroth...)
7. FFI (The original can be tough as he sometimes cure 4`s himself like an ass)
8. FFIV (Not so tough, once your at a certain level, he doesn`t pose much of a threat as he doesn`t really have any OMG moves aside from Big Bang)
9. FFXII (yeah he goes through cycles of immunity from physical and magical attacks... he`s still very very easy)
10. FFII (so, so easy. The enemies during the final stage are harder)

Leaves out FFXI, FFIII and FFXIII as I`ve never beaten any of them, yet.

My list of favourites:

1. X
   
2. IX
   
3. VII
   
4. VIII
   
5. XII
   
6. X-2

I'll reserve judgment for XIII until I've played more of it. Aside from this, though, I haven't played anything (aside from Tactics Advance lolol).

And PX, there are better FF games to get you started. I'd recommend X, mostly because the battle system isn't an ATB-based one so you can run at your own speed.

Top 5:

1. VIII
2. V
3. XII (Once you get past Vaan it was good times, god I hate Vaan)
4. VI
5. X

Vaan is such a non-character. Probably one of the worst mains I've ever played with.

Also, I'm very thankful that they haven't made Lightning EXACTLY like Cloud, because she's supposed to be a female version of him - really enjoying the five/about to be six characters that XIII is running with.

Eric, I have never played XI, because I literally did not have the dollars for it. I only got away with playing WOW because of a private server. I'm sure there are ones for XI too, but when it was first announced, I was really pretty pissed off, so that turned me off forever.

See, I hold the main series in high regard, because I think each one of them has to tell me a straightforward story whilst in their own universe. Don't get me wrong, I do like MMOs, but I am a bigger traditionalist. (However, now that I'm replaying it again, XII is pure genius. I do agree with you on Vaan, however. Worst voice-acting in the history of FF voice-acting.) I believe that the main, numbered games should be traditional, non-open-ended games, in the loosest sense of the word. Why should it have been "Final Fantasy XI"? What's wrong with calling it "Final Fantasy Online"?

I never said XI itself should have been part of an established universe. I said that I will only accept an FF MMO when it takes place in an established universe. If I wanted to immerse myself in a completely new universe, I want a traditional, straightforward game to do that for me. Personally, MMOs with roots in a familiar universe, such as WoW, are more appealing to me, and should serve the series better financially, as in more people would actually play that shit if it were in Ivalice, Spira, or hell, the Planet from everyone's favorite FF VII, and what have you, because they would be playing in the territory of the games they fell in love with.

P.S. The original FF Tactics totally made Ivalice, and it was far from childish then, because you had social stratification, false religions, and demon worship left and right. Tactics Advance killed it and made it childish, while XII saved it.

Nerds

Says the guy who plays a Japanese dude.

lol

I understand your point of view about FFXI, and can respect that.

And yes, the original Tactics was great and violent and I loved it, Tactics Advance, a great game by the way, made it childish.

FFXII, started of great, then puttered into a piece of crap past the half way point. Plus the combat system was mind numbing boring. FFXIII is at least 10 times better in the combat system regard.

We should do a separate tournament of best FF characters

It has to bee Vaan!!!

Okay... if he makes anyone's list, you should be shot.

Same with Rikku and Yuffie. Anyone who picks the annoying, teenaged-girl characters for their best list needs to be shot. I don't care if real women look hot dressed as them in cosplay. It doesn't matter. They're annoying and they're lame.

That is all.