The Best Final Fantasy game for PS2

[the_sandman]

I've just beaten Final Fantasy VII, VIII, and IX for the gazillionth time and I've got to say the best Final Fantasy for the PS2 is IX. Here is why.

Let's start with the characters. The main character, Zidane Tribal, is totally different from previous main characters, even in the NES and Super NES Final Fantasies. Zidane has a cocky, perverted, and upbeat attitude, yet he has also shown compassion, leadership and commitment towards his fellow companions. In Final Fantasy VII and VIII, the characters involvement in the game seemed very little. In VII, the whole focus was on Cloud, Tifa, and Aeris, while the rest of the characters were basically ignored and just there for battle purposes. Same thing with VIII. We don't see huge importance in characters like Zell, Selphie or Quistis. The whole story revolved around Squall and Rinoa. In IX, we see how each characters develop during their journey with Zidane and see the importance of Zidane's involvement with each character's problems. Every character in IX starts off with their own unique flaws. Zidane changed Steiner's loyalty towards one person to a whole kingdom. He showed Amarant the importance of teamwork. Eiko, who was always alone, found the meaning of friendship and love. We also see interactions between the sub-characters as well. The master and servant relationship between Vivi and Steiner, sisterly bond between Eiko and Garnet, rivalry between Freya and Amarant (which made the realization of the importance of teamwork so much more powerful during their fight with one of the 4 guardians). There was even a little love triangle between Zidane, Dagger, and Eiko. We also see that Zidane isn't so perfect either during that powerful scene at the end of the 3rd disc. Zidane, upon learning that his sole purpose was to destory everything he loves and cherishes, falls into depression. It was great how all the characters Zidane helped helps him in the end.

I also loved how IX took it back to the whole medieval settings. When I think of Final Fantasy, I think of swords, knights, castles, princesses and such. It's great how VII and VIII had the whole futurific look because it worked for a lot of people, but it just didn't make sense to me that a motorcycle and a chocobo exists in the same Final Fantasy world since they would both have the same purposes.

I've always loved the job class system in Final Fantasy. It worked so well in IX. We would think that job classes are only important during battles, but I thought it was awesome how great it worked with the storyline as well. It is highly unlikely that a lowly thief would be the main character in Final Fantasy. It's usually the Cecil and Terra who is chosen as the main characters. By Cecil and Terra, I mean characters who are highly powerful and has a reputation.

I don't think any other Final Fantasy can compare with the soundtracks of Final Fantasy IX, not even X. I thought the songs were highly memorable. I can still remember the tune for each town because it fit the settings so well. The Lindblum town always had that "another long day of work" type of tune. It matched the whole low working class theme of Lindblum. Treno which represents the town of nobles and the city that never sleeps had the whole upbeat, classy, night life theme to it. Some of my favorite tunes were Loss of me/Rose of May (because it just reminds me of the scene where Steiner and Beatrix worked together to protect Alexandria), You're not Alone (because it's just so epic), Daughter of Madain Sauri (because its very happy and it feels very...Eiko. Although she was very sad in the inside, you would never guess with this tune), and of course the world map theme (because it sounds so adventurous).

The battle system in IX was ok. I thought VIII had the best battle system. I loved the whole junction system, but IX's wasn't bad. It just seemed too...normal.

Oh and let's not forget, the best villain, Kuja. Not Sephiroth. I thought Sephiroth was very over-rated. Yes, he killed Aeris, but he accomplished nothing. Sephiroth just went on a rampage and such, but Kuja seemed more cunning. Manipulating Queen Brahne, kidnapping Dagger, and creating black mages and creating havoc within Gaia destroying half the planet. Wait, let me fix that. Destroying a whole planet (Terra) and a half.

[Bolivar]

Honestly, I can't really put my finger on which one I like the most, or which one I feel is the best for that matter. I'm a little inclined to discount FFIX because it didn't take many risks, at least not relative to FFVII and VIII. But that's a little arbitrary since its merits as a game stand just as strong if not stronger in some areas.

A big part of these games are the art and music, and for that it will always be extremely subjective. It makes it even harder since they were using essentially the art presentation/implementation design and the same sound tech, although I would say VIII and IX were quite a few levels up from VII as far as sound quality goes.

On battles, I think VIII had the best character development system, VII had the best flow/direction of ATB and camera, but IX's was the most well rounded, and probably the most polished by far. However, I really dislike that FFVIII started, and IX followed, the tradition of only having 3 monsters on the screen at most. This continued in FFX and was retroactively implemented in FFIII DS. You could argue whether or not having more than 3 potential monsters increases or decreases strategy, but I think I prefer more than 3.

On story it's hard to say. VII implemented various techniques and influences and felt really original to me. It had the most actual themes out of the three. VIII was highly emotional and very realistic, it's like a novel almost to me. IX was probably the best put together. It made the most sense. It was able to maintain and thrive with many characters, plot threads, and locations, and just had this great storybook, mystical feel to it.

My opinion has always been that IX is possibly the most well rounded game in the series, but VII and VIII were very much experiments with the RPG medium. I honestly can't decide!

[Raistlin]

I see FFT isn't even on your list, but I would consider that the best FF on the PS1. Best magic system, best gameplay, best story (though worst translation). As far as I'm concerned it's the best FF all-time.

[qwertysaur]

IX is love, it has :quina:

[Levian]

IX I suppose

[Slothy]

On battles, I think VIII had the best character development system

Based solely on the fact that it had the most abuseable system which took next to no time to make your characters nearly unstoppable, I have to say it's character growth system was the worst. It's so easily abused that you will abuse it and make over powered characters sooner rather than later and with very little real time investment. In fact, trying to use the system while maintaining any challenge for yourself is pretty much impossible, or at the very least, would be more time consuming and such a delicate balance without ignoring junctions all together that no one would ever bother. It was a good idea in theory, but it lacked any of the checks and balances it really needed to avoid draining the fun out of the battles themselves.

If anything, I would say FFIX actually took quite a bit of risk by going back to defined character classes after not using them since FFIV. Now most regular battles in the game aren't going to challenge you, but that's been the case since the 16-bit days, but you do require strategy in a lot of the boss battles (unless your strategy is to over-level, but I digress). Requiring strategy at that stage would have been a bit of a risk given the number of people who started with FFVII and were used to equipping all of the materia they had access to to their characters and limit breaking their way through everything.

Anywho, yeah I consider FFIX to be the best numbered FF in the PSX era, and in my top three for the series. I might put FF Tactics above it (it does have an amazing story, characters and even better gameplay, but something about FFIX's story makes me hesitant to pick between the two), but I think the topic creator was simply talking about the numbered FF's.

[Bolivar]

^ I disagree. In FFVIII, whenever I find a new spell, I have all 3 party members draw once, then transfer it to one user after battle, and move on. The game maintains the same challenge and pacing of any other FF this way.

We could argue all day and night about how long it takes to get the refine abilities, get the items to refine, or the resources to get those items, but I've played the game many times and I'll maintain that breaking the system is FFVIII's equivalent of grinding, which may in fact be easier than other FF's, but it mostly just appears that way because it's much more dramatically noticeable in FFVIII.

[black orb]

>>> FF9.
Best compilation FF Origins..:luca:

[Flying Mullet]

Final Fantasy VI. :p

[Christmas]

Actually, I enjoyed all the PS 1 FF games. When I somehow lost my playstation, I downloaded an emulator just to be able to play those games again! :bigsmile:

[ANGRYWOLF]

Just my opinion.

Best character and plot development.

The only problem is the bosses, with the exception of Elmdore and the assassins, are too easy...

:cool:

[Slothy]

^ I disagree. In FFVIII, whenever I find a new spell, I have all 3 party members draw once, then transfer it to one user after battle, and move on. The game maintains the same challenge and pacing of any other FF this way.

I did more or less the same thing in my first playthrough. It was still far easier than any other FF to break the game. Yes, breaking the FFVIII battle system is the equivalent of grinding in others, but you can all but ensure that you never have a challenge in it with no more than 5-10 minutes here and there within the first few hours of the game. The other games require a much more significant time investment to break at any given point, and even if you did, the difficulty is likely to catch up to your characters strength. This never happened for me in FFVIII in any of my playthroughs. Once I had exploited the battle system, it was easily maintained with no more effort than drawing occasionally in battle or refining the right items.

It really is easier to break FFVIII than to grind to level 99 in any other FF because you never hit the point of diminishing returns where you have to spend a greater amount of time for an equivalent jump in stats.

And if I had to be honest, I think the only reason enemies level with you in the game is because Square realized the system was too easy to exploit and tried to have the game adapt as you leveled to increase the challenge. Sadly, it didn't do a good enough job in my opinion.

Also, I like how Flying Mullet thinks. :D

[Kyros]

I've just beaten Final Fantasy VII, VIII, and IX for the gazillionth time and I've got to say the best Final Fantasy for the PS2 is IX. Here is why.

I liked X for PS2 better personally :)

For PS1 originals I like VIII and TICTACS best, but if you include the remakes my head would explode contemplating IV vs VI.

[Elpizo]

The obvious answer here is IX. As far as FF goes, that game was perfect.

[Depression Moon]

The obvious answer here is IX. As far as FF goes, that game was perfect.

[P4ine]

The obvious answer here is IX. As far as FF goes, that game was perfect.

[Kyros]

IX was my least favorite =/

[arcanedude34]

The obvious answer here is IX. As far as FF goes, that game was perfect.

[jammi567]

The obvious answer here is IX VIII. As far as FF goes, that game was perfect.

[Wolf Kanno]

Though I don't share Bolivar's views on VII and VIII, I do agree that IX is the best solely for being the most balanced entry between the three numbered entries.

IX does has its flaws for me but in terms of balancing gameplay with story I feel IX is the best entry in the series and really should be set as the template for how an FF should be designed exempting specialties like Battle Systems and Customization systems. Its structure just works for me.

[Shadowdust]

^ I disagree. In FFVIII, whenever I find a new spell, I have all 3 party members draw once, then transfer it to one user after battle, and move on. The game maintains the same challenge and pacing of any other FF this way.

I did more or less the same thing in my first playthrough. It was still far easier than any other FF to break the game. Yes, breaking the FFVIII battle system is the equivalent of grinding in others, but you can all but ensure that you never have a challenge in it with no more than 5-10 minutes here and there within the first few hours of the game. The other games require a much more significant time investment to break at any given point, and even if you did, the difficulty is likely to catch up to your characters strength. This never happened for me in FFVIII in any of my playthroughs. Once I had exploited the battle system, it was easily maintained with no more effort than drawing occasionally in battle or refining the right items.

It really is easier to break FFVIII than to grind to level 99 in any other FF because you never hit the point of diminishing returns where you have to spend a greater amount of time for an equivalent jump in stats.

And if I had to be honest, I think the only reason enemies level with you in the game is because Square realized the system was too easy to exploit and tried to have the game adapt as you leveled to increase the challenge. Sadly, it didn't do a good enough job in my opinion.

Also, I like how Flying Mullet thinks. :D

By your reasoning, that is exactly why I think FFVIII rocks. What one can consider breaking a game, I consider adjustable. As easy as it is to exploit the game, it's just as easy to make it the most difficult of all of the games simply by choosing not to take advantage of the available skills available in the game. Simply choosing not to junction magic to your stats will increase the difficulty considerably. You can say it is too easy to break the game, but isn't that really your choice whether you exploit the game to make it easier?

Anyway, out of the PSX originals, I have a difficult time choosing one. When each was released, I simply could not stop playing them over and over. At the end of the day, I have to choose FFVIII though. Mostly because it was the one Final Fantasy I was able to share with my wife completely and we had quite a good time experiencing it together. Other than that, I actually enjoyed the long summon cutscenes as well as the return to a low HP "desperation" type Limit Break. And it is also my favorite story of the three main titles.

[Rantz]

Okay, back on topic please. Deleting the pointless argument.

[Bolivar]

Though I don't share Bolivar's views on VII and VIII, I do agree that IX is the best solely for being the most balanced entry between the three numbered entries.

Thanks, I knew I was on to something.

[VeloZer0]

Well, since I am one of those FFVIII haters, it is down to a two horse race for me. (FFT doesn't count because it would win hands down)

I can certainly say my favorite of the two is FFVII, but I can also look at things objectively enough to know that just because it is my favorite doesn't mean its the best.

On the topic of which is the better over all game, I would have to say they come in very close. Breaking it down:

Characters: (FFIX)
In FFVII I liked some of the characters, disliked some, and was indifferent to others. And that didn't really change over the 100 hours of gameplay. In FFIX I was not a fan of the character art style and consequently was uninthusiastic about every character I met; however, over the course of the story I grew involved with them. Even though I ultimately liked the characters of FFVII more, I would think this indicates FFIX has a more well developed line up.

World:
Oh man, tough one....
...
After siting here thinking about this for 5 minutes I use FFIX's annoyingly slow airship as a tie breaker. FFVII wins, (though not in a meaningful way).

Plot: (FFVII)
I thoroughly enjoyed both, so I have to break it down a little more. FFVII's plot had me hooked and compelled me to play through from start to finish. I found FFIX to lag somewhat in the middle, going to the second continent (Lost Continent/Forgotten Continents, all the ones other than the Mist Continent sound the same and I don't remember which that one was called). Point FFVII.

Character Leveling/Set Up (FFVII)
My definition of a good system is something that is accessible, easy to learn/use, and once you get more involved is very fun to tinker with in much more depth. I also am a fan of the 'learn everything, equip only some' design philosophy. My main hang up with FFIX is that non active party members do not receive AP from battles, and as such I always feel it is a major chore to get them up to speed.

Combat: (FFVII)
FFIX's combat engine was just too slow, often times I had all four party members with commands input already, just waiting for something to happen.


Since I have to pick one, in the end it comes down to FFVII being the better game, although Plot and Character Leveling/Set Up were so close it came down to me nitpicking in the end. If I had written this at some other time it may very well have come up as IX being #1. (In reality I would say it is more like a tie, but I don't think I'm allowed. :))

[Shiny]

I think having a game upgraded to PS2 would primarily be because the graphics were so bad they need that update. FFIX had really great graphics on PS1. I think out of the FF games that need it the most and would probably receive a lot of sales, FFVII would be the better choice. Rose of May is a beast of a tune though.


Also, I changed the thread title a bit because I think you meant PS2 right?

[Raistlin]

Also, I changed the thread title a bit because I think you meant PS2 right?

Huh? The OP is discussing FF7-9, all of which were on the PS1.

[Zeromus_X]

If we're talking about the PS1 games, then FFIX for me. Maybe it's just the nostalgic quality to it, but I find FFIX to be more colorful and fun to replay than the other two.

[Shiny]

Also, I changed the thread title a bit because I think you meant PS2 right?

Huh? The OP is discussing FF7-9, all of which were on the PS1.

I've just beaten Final Fantasy VII, VIII, and IX for the gazillionth time and I've got to say the best Final Fantasy for the PS2 is IX. Here is why.

[Bolivar]

LOL thread title change is weird.