Final Fantasy - START -

[quote name='Hells Malice' timestamp='1336752979']
[quote name='Team Fail' timestamp='1336751703'] [quote name='Hells Malice' timestamp='1336706211'] FF1 was fun, even if it was confusing as hell.FF2 was boring.FF7's materia system was the only highlight, it was great.FF8 is awesomeFF9 is the worst in the series Have fun brah, it'll take you forever if you follow through. [/quote] I was told that FF8 was crap and 9 was good. /confused

FFI is pretty fun, but they ruined some of the music in the game, especially Matoya's Cave. [/quote]
You were told very wrong, lol. Squall gets on peoples nerves at times, but really the character cast overall is solid. The combat system is about average as far as FF goes, and I enjoyed some fights.
FF9 just sucks. Every character is shitty except Vivi, the story is lame, and the combat system took several steps backwards to be mundane and boring. Trance mode is the most retarded thing ever.
[/quote]
FF9 is leagues better than FF8. FF8's battle and leveling system was a terrible mess, and the story was nothing special, as it rarely is in an FF game. I mean, fuck, when you can beat an entire game at level 1, something is pretty wrong. I'll give it an A+ as an experimental project, and I even beat it all the way to the end (by spamming the Lion Heart limit break with Squall, and having Zell toss one of my 99 Megalixirs [Thanks, Bahamut!] every turn, tossing a Hero [Thanks, Seifer!] whenever Squall's ran out). FF9's characters are more fun overall (Steiner is a fucking goof, and that makes him awesome), though I will say that the AP/skills on weapons thing got old fast. It became more grindy than it should have if you wanted a good collection of abilities for every character.

In the end though, FF9 is a very satisfying game, especially when compared to FF8. It's easily one of my favorite in the series, behind FF6 and FF4.

[quote name='Nathan Drake' timestamp='1336804887']FF9 is leagues better than FF8. FF8's battle and leveling system was a terrible mess, and the story was nothing special, as it rarely is in an FF game. I mean, fuck, when you can beat an entire game at level 1, something is pretty wrong. I'll give it an A+ as an experimental project, and I even beat it all the way to the end (by spamming the Lion Heart limit break with Squall, and having Zell toss one of my 99 Megalixirs [Thanks, Bahamut!] every turn, tossing a Hero [Thanks, Seifer!] whenever Squall's ran out). FF9's characters are more fun overall (Steiner is a fucking goof, and that makes him awesome), though I will say that the AP/skills on weapons thing got old fast. It became more grindy than it should have if you wanted a good collection of abilities for every character.In the end though, FF9 is a very satisfying game, especially when compared to FF8. It's easily one of my favorite in the series, behind FF6 and FF4. [/quote]

Hey man, I respect your opinion.

I'm all for letting people be completely wrong, if that's what they believe. *winky smiley face*

No love for Final Fantasy IV Complete Collection? Definitely worth playing if you haven't!

Chock another one up for agreeing with Hells Malice that FFIX is awful and VIII is the best of the three on the PSX. IX had the worst set of characters of the three games, the worst gameplay mechanics and the worst storyline (the introduction of the final boss and the reveal about Zidane is proof positive of this). It's not the worst FF, but it's inferior to VIII and VII.

The fact that VIII requires absolutely no levelling and can be finished with only 20 or 30 encounters is a massive indication that it's done something right in the world of RPG's, when the balance enables you to enjoy the story, power up and avoid any annoying random encounters or grind. If only more RPG's had this as an optional levelling mechanic.

Also regarding I and II...why not the PSP versions? They're generally thought to be better.

Ugh, fucking mouse. Two paragraphs in, and it decides to pull a magic act and fucking send me back a page.

The important bit: Leveling up in a JRPG is pretty important with the encounter mechanics you tend to find, and that are present in FF8. It somehow makes random encounters more of a pain in the ass than they normally are, since there is absolutely nothing to gain from them (oh boy, card mod - let's do that for all 700 random encounters until you beat the game!). You actually make the game harder by playing an FF game like you know how to play one. That's backwards. I can not praise the game for that. The drawing system was also flawed. With the very non-difficult to find correct magics, you could junction (after the tedious ass task of getting three sets of 99 of each magic you wanted) anybody into a monster. Essentially, there's no character balance. Or maybe there's too much of it. It's hard to say.

For FF8, the weapon system, although it was neat, still wasn't very well thought out. Playing the right way, you can get the Lionheart on disc one. Why the hell can I get Squall's best weapon on disc one at all? How is that even a possibility? Way to put a knife into the balance again.

Remember guys, there's a difference between different, and good. FF8 is fun, and I do think it should be experienced for it's interesting game design. In the end though, it really isn't a very good game in terms of balance and incorporated game mechanics.

If you want to dive into the story and characters, they aren't impressive in any FF game that was on the PSX. They were all equally flawed, and nearly all of the characters sucked. If you can name more than one or two, genuinely likeable characters from every PSX FF game, I'd be pretty surprised. If you can name one from FF7, well, I guess we all have differing definitions of "likeable."

I'll give FF8 this much: it's better than FF7. Between the materia system, the crappy story, and the horrible characters, I can't understand why people like FF7 so much. I get that it was the first PSX FF game, but does the nostalgia ever die?

With that, FF9 is the best game of the three. Leveling up works right, and there isn't materia. That's should be enough for most.

ffxiii is the best one
i think i might play it again

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Discussing what the best Final Fantasy game is like dancing on a minefield.

However, random encounters are optional in FFVIII as soon as you get Diablos right at the beginning of the game (after the Dollet mission) and you unlock Enc None.

As for Junctioning Uber Magics and getting a disc 1 Lionheart....for someone who didn't know how to, or wasn't aiming to achieve those ends it'd never happen. The argument that VIII doesn't play like a normal JRPG isn't a negative - if only more games could be completed relatively simply at low levels (without it being a challenge in itself).

IX had nothing unique about it at all, and with it's somewhat rushed plot and generally unlikeable cast it's difficult to enthuse about it. Personally i can't think of anything in IX i'd take over anything in VII (or VIII). Sure it looks nicest, but when you play a JRPG for either unique gameplay aspects, characterisation or plot, IX fails on every level.

VIII has one of the most fleshed out game worlds, and whilst the draw system could get repetitive it didn't have to, plus Triple Triad is in and of itself one of the greatest sub games ever. In addition it has one of those storylines where people argue over different interpretations (Squall dying at the end of disc 1 for one).

Materia in VII was fun, especially the different options for growth available through weapons....and i actually liked Tifa and the Turks.

IX had nothing to set it aside from any other somewhat average RPG. It's not a bad game per se, but it's worse in many ways than it's predecessors (although it's arguably better than it's successor, FFX)