Would you rather be a stuck-up Lawful Stupid knight or a trying to be cool guy who isn't as good as he projects?

Trick question! I already am the later.

@arilou: That was precisely the point of IX - a trip down memory lane.

Funny thing is, I haven't even PLAYED any other FF :p (as in, IX was my first)

edited 4th Nov '09 7:28:24 AM by Arilou

Yeah, but they're all more about the heart than the head. IX isn't exclusive in that respect.

Except V lol. It's not as hearty as the others, but boy, it makes you go decisions, decisions.

If you go and replay any of them with the explicit intention of riffing them years after you played them for the first time, you will have material. Years ago I defended that FFX had a better plot than most movies. Playing it again, it's utterly ridiculous. And sadly still better than many professional movies.

Kinkajou: To answer your question, Golbez's theme, FFIV.

Yep. Organs  ^*

^{Or rather, the synth equivalent.}

ftw

I should note that while I kind of *like* Final Fantasy my real heart is always going to be with the IE games. Planescape Torment and it's story kicks the pants out of EVERY OTHER GAME EVER, and as a game I've yet to encounter a better RPG than Baldurs Gate II.

Incidentally the first japanese RPG I played (apart from Secret Of Mana) was Grandia II god that game had terrible dubbing.

As for music: This is probably my favourite bit of music ever in gaming :p

Yeah, FF is a pretty easily snarked series. FFX, in particular. It's a pity Riff Trax doesn't do video game cutscenes. But confound it all, I love it so!

I frankly don't understand why it's all right to hate JRP Gs while WRP Gs are worshipped.

It's not that I hate JRPG's (although I tend to dispute the right to call them "RPG's" but that's a semantic distinction and not a value judgement) . It's mainly that I like the Bioware games (and Black Isle ones) I much prefer either of them to the dreck turned out by Bethesda for instance.

edited 4th Nov '09 7:46:04 AM by Arilou

I've never played a W RPG.

^^ I know - hey, you don't hate FF...

It just me though.

Plus Necron is just Cloud of Darkness + Zeromus + Necrophobe.

I was going to write a post on this before, but I scrapped it when I had to leave for class.

I can understand how Yuna's personality would have taken a major turn after the events of X, but the way it was played made me respect her a lot less.

For one thing, it was made pretty clear in the first game that she wasn't pressured into becoming a summoner, that it was entirely the result of her self sacrificing nature and extraordinary sense of responsibility. She put on a strong face in from of everyone because summoners were meant to be the hope of the people. And all those Saturday nights were not wasted, because if she hd never become a summoner, she would never have defeated Sin.

After she's defeated Sin, she's also overturned the existing political order. Then, more than ever before, people should be looking to her for guidance and reassurance. And if she were the character I thought she was in the previous game, she would have shouldered that responsibility because that's the kind of person she is. The change that occurred in Yuna's personality by the second game marked a much more superficial and irresponsible person than I thought she was, and it pissed me off.

Rikku I didn't feel was flanderized so badly, but I didn't think that Payne made a very good foil for her, so she suffered for not having the cast of the previous game to play off of.

FF primary series games, in order of mad lovez:

IV: Pure nostalgia filter here. I realize that the plot is cliche, the characters are shallow, and the gameplay hasn't aged well. But this is the game I spent 48 hours straight playing as a teen and cemented my love for Eastern RPGs for all time. So it's always going to be top of the list.

IX: I loved every single character in this game. I loved the mechanics, I loved the dialog, I loved the story (except Quina and Necron, but, well, no one really likes either of those :P). This game was replayed so many times it now refuses to work. I really need to buy another copy.

VII: The one that it's not cool to admit to liking, right? I loved the character depth, especially Sephiroth and Cloud, who were unusually well developed (and, in Sephiroth's case, sympathetic) for a villain and hero, especially in the FF series which specializes in shallow characters. It's really a shame that all but the battle graphics are painful, and even were at the time. This is also the first video game to make me cry.

X: I loved watching Tidus' journey from whiny kid who couldn't even understand why someone would take a short, dangerous journey for 10 years peace to someone who would sacrifice their very existence to protect the world. I loved all the characters and I really loved the plot. It kept me glued to the game until it was over. Really loved the sphere grid and CTB battle system, too.

VI: Despite all the love for this game, and despite it being almost as prominent an influence on my childhood as Chrono Trigger and FFIV, I don't feel that much one way or the other about this game. The sheer number of characters always bothered me: it was hard to care about them all. And with magicite they became fairly similar to one another, if not outright identical, which made them stick out less to me. Great villain, love Celes and Locke, but almost never replay it.

I: Only this high because it introduced me to Eastern RPGs. It hasn't aged well at all.

VIII: Mostly for the card game. The characters weren't all that interesting, and neither was the Romantic Plot Tumor. The grinding for magic was boring. I truly hate grinding. Encounter a new spell, and draw, draw, draw for an hour. Yay?

II and III: Simply no opinion one way or the other. They exist, won't be replaying them.

V: Really can't stand this game. The job system never interested me that much, the characters weren't likable, and the plot was just silly. It might have helped if I'd played it as a child instead of as an adult and after experiencing far better modern RPGs, but I didn't.

XI: I pretend this doesn't exist. I have no interest in a grindfest pay-to-play MMO.

XII: By far the worst entry into the series, the characters were shallow and unlikable (except perhaps for Balthier), the design was obnoxious, the battle system wasn't fun, the license grid was annoying, and the grinding made me want to throw things. Finished it just to say I had and ebayed it immediately.

---

Non main series:

Tactics: One of the greatest Turn Based Strategy games around, even if it is Nintendo Hard. Loved the story, loved the characters, loved the gameplay. Even if it made me want to throw things sometimes.

The After Years: Good sequel to my favorite entry in the series. Stays true to the original in feel and plot. Some problems, notably that the gameplay hasn't aged all that well, but overall worth the time.

X-2: Wonderful gameplay. Stupid story that cheapened the original game. Grating levels of fanservice. It's a wash.

Crisis Core: Eh, never found it that much fun. The plot was often confusing, the ending was a Wall Banger after seeing the god-like levels of power Zack had, and I didn't really enjoy the gameplay.

Tactics Advance: Huge disappointment. Way too easy, boring plot, and unlikable main character. Beat it once and it's sat ever since.

edited 4th Nov '09 9:01:41 AM by ccoa

Frankly, I can see the Broken Base here: The ones who are pretty serious in terms of plot, and the ones who just enjoy it.

I always thought FFXII was the only game whose story really made sense. Yes, it's not delivered as well as it should, and there's some stupidity, but it's actually a fairly decent plot, and everyone has somewhat credible motives.

Which isn't to say it is the best story in terms of emotional impact, but it's the one the closest to what I'd call "realistic" (err... Which says A LOT of how realistic the FF stories are :p)

The fact that it's less about saving the world and more along "we got involved in this politics thing, we do what we have to do".

The politics in Final Fantasy Tactics were a lot more believable. Final Fantasy XII felt like a failed attempt to replicate Tactics' formula.

Quite possibly, I was comparing it to the other games in the main series though.

Desertopa: I think you're hung up on the idea that Yuna should have become a public figure and leader of the world. I can see why you would think that, but it isn't necessarily true. Don't forget that Yuna never really wanted to live for Spira - she wanted to die for it. The former is much harder to do. And yes, it was her choice to become a summoner, which makes the knowledge that it was a lie even more of a sucker punch to the gut.

Yuna was not a political person and never wanted to lead anyone. She wanted to do some good in her own way and at her own pace. And she's allowed a break. After all, as the story of X-2 continues, she does start to go back to her desire to keep everyone together, and one gets the feeling she never really left it for very long.

My favorite FF is probably IX, because I felt the characterization and chemistry was just pulled off so beautifully. I loved how each character had not only their own personality but that they played off the other party members so well. There were relationships not just between the two main leads but all sorts of side characters as well. And the gameplay was fun and challenging without being cheap.

edited 4th Nov '09 9:29:32 AM by Cidolfas

^^^ Well, it is a Spiritual Successor to Tactics Ogre, and Yasumi Matsuno's the head of FFT.

I find it odd that FF went on a Darker And Edgier spree in the mid-90's then went Lighter And Softer in the mid 2000's.