FFIX/FFX Was The Last Good FF Game

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T.O.T

Blitzball Champion
Feb 2, 2017
533
540
#1
Oh yeah....I'm sure this has been thrown around a lot in the past couple of years. There's absolutely no problem with having a preference toward the older games or the newer games. However, I feel the reality of the situation comes down to some of the older games being better in some aspects than the newer titles and vice versa. Imo, probably one of the biggest pros of the older games was that it was much easier for a person to insert themselves onto the characters in some shape or form. I recall trying to give each main character a voice back when I was playing FFVIII. This in itself could contribute to a better experience than what may have been provided otherwise. The downside though becomes that written dialogue can be interpreted differently, which may lead to radically different viewpoints on how a character is just in general. Newer games, on the other hand I feel do a better job of displaying characters. What I mean by that is that it's much easier to tell the emotions of the characters, understand how they sound, and tell body language easier. I believe because of this, more people are able to accurately define characters. However, because the characters have more detail to them, it becomes much harder for a person to insert themselves onto that character.

That's just my thoughts on it. I understand this has been covered a lot already, I thought I'd just share my thoughts on it. Thank you.
 

llazy77

Warrior of Light
May 27, 2014
1,149
550
29
#2
Yeah FFX or XII was the last good ff, they havent made a great one since, I worry greatly for XVI tbh feel like they will mess it up somehow.
 

Jenova

Keyblade Master
Oct 28, 2013
729
583
#3
I hate hyperbolic threads like this and simultaneously love them. I hate them because the TCs of these threads in question are usually someone who is a block-headed ignoramus who states his opinions as facts and doesn't even go on to explain himself in a cohesive manner as any smart able-bodied person would do normally. I feel the current thread is a pretty good example of that. As for why I love them, I get to share my unpopular opinions on the Final Fantasy franchise because why not? It's not as if the thread was going to be productive from the outset seeing as the TC never had any good intentions from the beginning.

Anyway, I think to say IX or X was the last good Final Fantasy is utterly preposterous and moronic. I say this as someone who enjoyed IX very much and considers it to be one of the best Final Fantasy games. I honestly believe it's very difficult to quantify Final Fantasy as it embodies so many different things. Every game is so vastly different from one another and with good reason. They all take different directions in their respective visions. I have never agreed with the fanbase that the franchise should be more like one certain main entry over another. It would defeat the entire purpose of Final Fantasy even existing. While they vary in degrees of success, each mainline game still has a distinct feel to it when you play them. At least from what I have experienced. It would be a shame if the series lost that and became too samey as many franchises (JRPG or not) today have become. Furthermore, I would say that entries in the post-PS1 era all have their appeals in some way. Final Fantasy X for example has an insufferable cast of characters and a very eyeroll inducing melodramatic narrative I personally find, but the gameplay is extremely fun and engaging. The same could be said of its sequel as well. Or take XIII. While I also found the narrative in that game to be an absolute bore and the combat to be abysmal, the concepts it attempted to introduce were very interesting. On a technical and narrative level. The Lightning Saga also gave me Lightning Returns. Which I find to be the strongest game in the trilogy and probably the FF game with the strongest combat gameplay since SQEX entered the realm of 3D. My point is the current gen games still have a lot to offer if you're willing to truly look. To paint them all with one brush as awful or "not up to par" (whatever that means) is honestly pretty condescending and pretentious if you ask me.
 
Likes: Lulcielid

T.O.T

Blitzball Champion
Feb 2, 2017
533
540
#4
Yeah FFX or XII was the last good ff, they havent made a great one since, I worry greatly for XVI tbh feel like they will mess it up somehow.
May I ask why you feel this way?

I hate them because the TCs of these threads in question are usually someone who is a block-headed ignoramus who states his opinions as facts and doesn't even go on to explain himself in a cohesive manner as any smart able-bodied person would do normally. I feel the current thread is a pretty good example of that. It's not as if the thread was going to be productive from the outset seeing as the TC never had any good intentions from the beginning.
I did try and explain myself though *pokes fingers together* :(. To give you a TLDR of the OP, I don't view either the new or the old games to be better. I tried to clarify with my wording that it's just my own thoughts, but maybe there was something lost in communication :(?
 

AverageAfro

PSICOM Soldier
Aug 3, 2016
86
62
#5
May I ask why you feel this way?


I did try and explain myself though *pokes fingers together* :(. To give you a TLDR of the OP, I don't view either the new or the old games to be better. I tried to clarify with my wording that it's just my own thoughts, but maybe there was something lost in communication :(?
DW It's not your fault, just a few of the people around here who post superfluous stuff.

On Topic - I disagree with you mostly because FFXII was my fav game (probs cause it was my first one) however IX and X were really good games still.

Tangent - KH games are the best FF games ever.
 
#7
So, better post. Hopefully.

I personally think the constant attempts to reinvent the games from the ground up do the franchise more harm than good - that's no secret, I've said this before, if someone wants to ask about this, ask via PN b/c I don't want to hijack this thread. Incidentally, this doesn't mean I think everything leading up to IX (which is my favourite FF game) is 'perfect' either.

There are very personal cut-off points to "when did Final Fantasy stop being good" - according to Yahtzee of Zero Punctuation fame, his point was after Final Fantasy VI, after which, according to him, the series (or rather, JRPG in general) became "more about spectacle than substance, always about skinny fifteen-year-olds dressed in outfits that looked like they were designed with an Etch-A-Sketch and fed through a thrashing machine; endless gaudy cinematics; retarded angsty drama; bloated, unwieldy menu-driven combat." (Source) I don't agree with him fully, though his points can occasionally be spot-on, albeit I have more of a bone to pick with the genre I've dubbed moé crawler - games like the Neptunia series.

If we're talking about each game post-IX individually, my opinions are as follows (I'll leave out some titles for various reasons and focus only on 'the big ones'):

X - I am mostly OK with this one. Not a fan of the main character and I have a fairly negative opinion on the subject of the character progression system, but I like Spira as a world, the overarching themes of dogmatism and freedom from religion appeal to me.

XII - I like it. Yeah, there's some ilk to be had with it, but I enjoy the parts I like about this too much to give a crap about the "bad" stuff (which I think is asinine anyway - the game's allegedly 'too political' and the subject of Vaan, who I think doesn't disturb the game at all). Like the combat, REALLY like the world they're building, love Sakimoto's score and Yoshida's designs. Also Balthier has the best lines of any FF character ever.

XIII - I think deep down, at its very core, this could've been a great game, had the overall proper narrative been better. But as-is, XIII is just a thoroughly miserable experience to me.

XIII-2 and LR - I do not care about these two. Played bits and pieces of them, but honestly, after the first one failed so thoroughly in capturing me, I have no intention of spending more time with this universe.

XIV: ARR - Need to go back to this at some point. I just love this game and this universe. Would really, really like to see an offline game like it, because I see so many people dismiss it because of it being an MMORPG (which is unfair, for the record).

XV - Haven't played it and I'm kind of critical about how they want to handle the story patching. Still, everything else looks like a good, straightforward no-nonsense RPG to me and it'll probably be one of the first titles I am going to pick up alongside my PS4.

I think FF can still be good going forward, though I hope they find some semblance of a red thread again. Will it have the same impact as it did back in the PS1 days? No - but does it need to? Not everything needs to change the world - sometimes, y'know... it's OK to be good in your own right.
 
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Likes: Orenji

T.O.T

Blitzball Champion
Feb 2, 2017
533
540
#9
DW It's not your fault, just a few of the people around here who post superfluous stuff.

On Topic - I disagree with you mostly because FFXII was my fav game (probs cause it was my first one) however IX and X were really good games still.

Tangent - KH games are the best FF games ever.
I am glad that the mindframe of the title isn't shared with everybody in the fanbase. I already knew it to some extent, but it's always interesting seeing what others prefer as titles.