My beef with FFX

[feioncastor]

I've been playing FF games since 1993 when I first played FF2 for the SNES. It was (and is) a wonderful captivating game that has really done a lot for me.

I was very stoked when FF3 came out, and a bit confused when FF7 came out a little while later, but thouroughly pleased with both games.

Then I played FF8 which I thought to be a disgrace to the FF name. FF9 was a little better, but I think they fell back into that hole when they made FF10.

I'm not posting this to cause trouble or flame anyone or anything. I'm posting my genuine opinion and backing it with my reasons why.

First of all, FFX had no world map. Well, it did have a world map, but you couldn't really walk around on it or anything, which has long been a trademark of FF games.

And also, the gameplay, if you can use the word "play", because I did so little playing. Most of the game is watching FMVs and conversations and such, with a little fighting in between. I did like the Cloisters, but that was only a small part of the gameplay. There was Blitzball, but I really didn't enjoy that either. I can't really specify why.

Bascially, here's my theory.

Squaresoft was a hard-working company that thought up great titles and GREAT storylines and GREAT game play, but then, in 1996-97, they decided to work on a game with GREAT graphics (compared to previous games), and that game was Final Fantasy 7. People bought up Final Fantasy 7 like mad, and they realized that they could sell games on graphics alone, without putting effort into the story or the gameplay. Thus, we see Final Fantasy 8, which was (and is) a disaster. Then they decided to try to return to their roots with Final Fantasy 9, and they somewhat did, but not as well as I had hoped. Then came Final Fantasy 10, which put so much effort into the graphics and cutscenes that they forgot to work on the gameplay, story, and so forth.

I mean, in FF7, a FMV was like a treat. It was a reward, and I have a memory card with saves right before all the good FMVs. In FF10, FMVs were more like obstacles that were holding me up from playing the game. I just wanted them to end so I could get back to the game, and then as soon as they did, I'd talk to someone, and another FMV would start, and finally, I'd get back to the game and find that all I had been striving for was an hour or so of walking over almost identical terrain, which was boring as heck.

Please dont' respond to this if you're only gonna bash on me for not liking it because I didn't once bash on you for liking it.

Feion

[Lon611]

geeesh. there are so many of these "i hate ffx" threads. lol.

everytime a new ff game is released, there is always a minority that doesn't like it and completely hates it. personally, im not finding ffvii very fun. but thats just imho. i think ffvi is much better. and i thot ffix was awesome, followed by my favorite ffx. :)

if u want gameplay, try the nemesis side quest?that was hell personally, but really really fun adn challenging:)

[nugun]

wow....almost enough haters here to start a player hater's ball.....get the pimp cups..chocoboos and fake furs ready

[Lain]

they decided to work on a game with GREAT graphics (compared to previous games), and that game was Final Fantasy 7
lol, I disagree
FF7 haven't got so GREAT graphics, thay just made better graphics because of technic, it's nothing wrong if game have a good graphic if it still have great storyline and I think storyline of ff7 was the best storyline ever. Game could have fantastic storyline, but without good graphics and music it also sucks. I don't like play older finals than ff7 because graphics and music sucks. FF7 in my opinion was perfect.

Now about ffX....here I have to agree with you. FFX have so great graphic but storyline was so so. And you have to watch what happens to this "great, awesome, wonderful" lady yuna instead of playing game. But it wasn't so bad game at all. Did you play ff x-2?? That game really sucks

[SomethingBig]

Woah woah woah woah woah. Are you saying that FFVII was all eye candy with a thin plot? FFVII had an extremely complex plot. And FFVIII didn't have a godawful plot, it's just that it wasn't as good as VII's, but still had its major twists and turns.

EDIT: I agree with your views on FFX, though.

[Auronhart]

Woah woah woah woah woah. Are you saying that FFVII was all eye candy with a thin plot? FFVII had an extremely complex plot. And FFVIII didn't have a godawful plot, it's just that it wasn't as good as VII's, but still had its major twists and turns.
I don't think that's what she was saying, it looked like the "it came out a while ago" argument followed "by the storyline is what matters" and the "storyline of ff7 was the best storyline ever". (I don't agree with that last statement)
FFX wasn't a bad game, it had some good characters (Auron :) ), an innovative/cool battle system and a decent plotline. The music was mostly done by Nobuo = very good, however the tracks he didn't do were kind of average. Personally, I don't understand people that say graphics ruin the game, I understand they are not as important as gameplay and story, but FFX was only a little lacking in the story department and the gameplay was very well done.


First of all, FFX had no world map. Well, it did have a world map, but you couldn't really walk around on it or anything, which has long been a trademark of FF games.
I can't see this being a big deal.

And also, the gameplay, if you can use the word "play", because I did so little playing.
There are plenty of bosses, plus you can go and do all the piles of optional ones.

Most of the game is watching FMVs and conversations and such, with a little fighting in between.
Most FMV's are fairly short, if the ratio FMV of time to gameplay time was even 1 to 5, you might have a point.


There was Blitzball, but I really didn't enjoy that either. I can't really specify why.
Blitzball was okay, a little bit too easy though.


People bought up Final Fantasy 7 like mad, and they realized that they could sell games on graphics alone, without putting effort into the story or the gameplay. Thus, we see Final Fantasy 8, which was (and is) a disaster.
Final Fantasy 8 has it all, the best character cast, music, gameplay and the best story
of any Final Fantasy. Don't make pre-emptive attacks against FF's which aren't here to defend themselves. :(

I mean, in FF7, a FMV was like a treat. It was a reward
FF7 is incredibly easy. I don't know how you can see those FMV's as rewards.

[ShivaBlizzard8]

Personally I found FF7 very hard - I agree the FMVs felt like rewards and breaths of fresh air, wheras I found FFX relatively easy, and therefore the FMVs just added to the sense I was watching a movie rather than taking a break from gameplay.

However, I really liked FFX. The world map thing didn't bother me; although I know that a lot of FFers were upset by their lack of mobility and forced to travel along the game's set track until the very end, but doing something different now and again isn't a bad thing, IMHO. If every FF were exactly the same, you'd be playing the same game over and over, so what's the fun in that?

Also, although I was, as many were, amazed by FFX's graphics, and yes, a lot of time and effort was spent on them by Square because the PS2 had just come out and Sony was milking FFX's graphics to help sell consoles. However, I don't think storyline was sacrificed for this.

FF8? Yes, the storyline was relatively weak, with lots of plotholes. Still a good game with good characters, but the main villian was confusing and wasn't introduced until too late, and so much attention was given to Squall and Rinoa that the other potentially facisnating supporting cast was left out in the cold.

In X, however, I liked how the storyline made sense, had plot twists, made a comment about the concept of organized religion, and told Tidus' story (too often I feel the main character is just a vessel for us to watch the plot unfold through) without sacrificing the personalities and backgrounds of the supporting cast of characters. I also liked how they didn't try to make a happy ending out of it (I'm not going to get into X-2 here), and the tragedy of the need to sacrifice somebody so that the overall good can prevail was much more powerful then it would have been otherwise, similar to what happened in FF7.

Also, FF9 went back to its roots on purpose in attempt to pay homage to FF's beginings as it bade farewell to the original PSX game system.

Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is if you didn't enjoy FFX, okay. But don't fear - I don't think Square and FF is going downhill. Everybody hates some FF games, even among the old school ones. For instance, I love FF5. Most people hate it. And Square has been accused of selling out before - look at FF Mystic Quest. But they bounced back. You have FF11 which is completely free-roaming and all about gameplay, and you have FF12 coming out, in which it is said a signifgant effort was made to cut back on FMV scenes. Just because X doesn't top your favorites list doesn't mean all is lost. :)

[feioncastor]

they decided to work on a game with GREAT graphics (compared to previous games), and that game was Final Fantasy 7

lol, I disagree
http://www.planetnintendo.com/nindb/nes/ff/shot-1.jpg
http://www.madmagick.net/emu/rom/nes/ff2ss.gif
http://s.the.great.8m.com/ff3/editor/sedit2.6.gif
http://www.gamecritics.com/review/ff7/screen01.jpg

You don't think the game has great graphics compared to previous Final Fantasy games?

Here's an FMV image from FF6:
http://www.hartanto.com/dl/snes/ff6/ff2.jpg

And here is an FMV image from FF7:
http://www.topthemes.com/games/ff7saver.jpg

In my opinion, and mind you, this is only my opinion, but I feel that FF7 had WAY better graphics than any of its predecessors.

And I don't hate FFX. I really don't. In fact, I actually like it. But I dont' like it nearly as much as I like just about any other FF that I've played, excluding FF8. However, I like it more than many other popular games like Metal Gear Solid, Grand Theft Auto III, and so forth.


Woah woah woah woah woah. Are you saying that FFVII was all eye candy with a thin plot? FFVII had an extremely complex plot. And FFVIII didn't have a godawful plot, it's just that it wasn't as good as VII's, but still had its major twists and turns.

No, I didn't intend to say this, and if I did, I'm sorry. I said that FF7 had an excellent story, excellent gameplay, excellent music, and excellent graphics. But when Square realized they could sell game with graphics alone, they stopped working on the story and gameplay, and started focusing too much effort on the graphics. FF7 was the last GREAT one, in my opinion.

Feion

[Lon611]

each person has their own opinion on things. i just don't think ppl should keep barking at a new game. 10 years from now, ppl will see 10 as a masterpiece and vii as a warm, old memory, just like the old ff's.

[Sephex]

Okay...okay.

FFX was one of those games that was good to me, but there was things in it I couldn't stand.

1) Blitzball is god awful. I hate that game so much. It is boring, *****y, and a waste of time to me. It makes no sense and doesn't use the fac that you are in a waer sphere to your advantage. I understand that Blitzball is supposed to be a turn based sports game, but it had to much of an RPG feel to it.

2) I understand what you mean by FFVII FMV's being a reward. I thought the game was easy, but it was awesome to see those slick graphics (at the time).

3) The lack of a world map did make the game have a "boxed in" sort of feel. It also made the game feel WAY to linear.

4) I didn't think the conversations went on too long. Though, some of them were boring and pointless. That might have made it seem that they went on too long for you. I am a person that doesn't mind watching lengthy cinema sequences--as long as they are interesting. Games like the Metal Gear Solid series and Xenosaga had great cinema sequences. They were lengthy, but most of them were done very well.

[YunaXTidus]

i personally really enjoyed playing FFx. i thought the story was well developed, and there was not one FMV which i found to be boring or too long or pointless, i thought the fact there was no world map was a welcome change IMO because it made it seem more realistic.

i loved 6, but i am playing 7 and i dont really find it to be all its hyped up to be, thats just my opinion though.

i enjoyed 9.

if i could make one improvement on 10 it would be to have a skip scene option in the pause menu, like in 10-2, so if u get a game over u dont have to watch the conversation all over agian (like before u fight yunalesca)

but apart from that i loved 10, it is my favourate.

[bakabakabaka]

one thing that i used to really hate was people asking why i played so many FF games because they're allt eh same. They're not and you should see it like that. i f you compair all the games to eachother it ruinds the game. my oldetr brother hates FFVIII because he thinks FFVII is the best ever and nothing compairs to it. i see each FF game as a total different game, just because its got FF in the title dosnt mean they're the same!!!!
i've played ALL the FF except 1 and 2 which i do want to try! and iv enjoyed everyone.
VIII is not VII and X is very differnt to others.
i can understand you not liking it. it is different.

[beyondthegrave]

Well they all kinda follow the same story line basically Guy saves girl then Guy saves world.

[Lain]

Well they all kinda follow the same story line basically Guy saves girl then Guy saves world.
Except ffX-2. There a girl saves world and no one saves girl

[YunaXTidus]

[QUOTE=borisnono]one thing that i used to really hate was people asking why i played so many FF games because they're allt eh same. They're not and you should see it like that. i f you compair all the games to eachother it ruinds the game. QUOTE]

thats a good point, i guess it does in a way ruin it if u compare, i will have to try that (seeing them all as different games.

and hey, i guess if they were all the sam it wud be boring

[UltimateSpamGrover]

I hated FFX for the resons stated above, but you wanna know the worst thing about it? The whistling scene.

(No offense to people who liked FFX.)

The only thing worse than FFX was FFX-2, and that was really crappy IMO. FFXI gave me little hope for Square, but I dont want XII to be another X or X-2. (Especially X-2)

[ArkBennett]

My opinion is that everybody has there own tastes. I have been playing FF games since 7 came out (Born 1991) so I was 6-7 when I started to play? And yes I have played 1 through 10-2 (Including CC) the only ones I haven't played are Mystic Quest, Legends II, Legends III.

Some people hate atleast one FF game because there tiny mind cannot comprehand the complexty of some things and even some simple things or they just hate it because there to lazy to go do the harder sub-quests for Example. 7 Materia System or you it was to easy (It really was) I had no problem with 1-6 Haven't beaten them yet but still.
8 come on the Junction system? That was badass how could you not get that or even hate it? Once again tiny connot understand the complexity. 9 You had Hade to beat plus the Ability system rocked! FFT that was plainly one of the best FF games ever! FF10 had the nice little Aeon System almost simuler (Mispelled) to the FF GF system, And also the Sphere Grid was cool! And CC was ok. 10-2 wasen't that all bad, The job system and reply was cool! It was a very replay-able game. The only problem I have with it was "Sphere Break" and the Blitzball mini-game kinda sucked on there and also that there wasen't that much gamplay to it not unless you completed 100% of it.

Anyways my point? It you hate it probably cause you suck at somthing on there! And if you cannot understand somthing as Basic such as the Juction System or Sphere Grid do you think you should really even play and Final Fantasy games? :confused:

And if your offended to bad! I'm not going to say sorry!

[UltimateSpamGrover]

I hated FFX/FFx-2 because it was... crap. (I beat X by the way so I understood how the game worked.) I like FF's that are actually difficult. That's one of the many, many, many, many reasons I quit on Chapter 3 of X-2. :lol: FFX (and X-2) was all graphics and no gameplay, FFXI was all game play and no graphics. Hopefully FFXII will balance it all out. We shall see come Fall 2005.

If I insulted any of you, I didn't mean to. :laugh:

EDIT: Oh, don't even get me started with VIII...

[Lon611]

either:1)replay it so u can understand the plot better
2)go do the nemesis side quest
3)stop whining about things and go play ffvii.

[UltimateSpamGrover]

I did understand the plot of FFX

Big Baddie destroys world
Summoner destroys baddie by taking his/her own life
Baddie returns
Some whiny brat is thrown into story
Brat falls in love with Girl
Girl becomes Summoner
Girl tells Brat that she will die
Brat finds out Baddie is his father
Fights Father
Brat dies


sounds like Star Wars to me... but whatever

[Lon611]

I did understand the plot of FFX

Big Baddie destroys world
Summoner destroys baddie by taking his/her own life
Baddie returns
Some whiny brat is thrown into story
Brat falls in love with Girl
Girl becomes Summoner
Girl tells Brat that she will die
Brat finds out Baddie is his father
Fights Father
Brat dies


sounds like Star Wars to me... but whatever

well u can make NETHING sound horrible when u say it like that :rolleyes2 . by ur standards i could go do the same with shakespeare...i think you understand it on a superficial level, which is good. but there are times in a ff, and with ffx the ENTIRE game, where u have to draw ur own conclusions and pick up on the subtleties(?)

[Appless]

Everyone keeps on going on about graphics and FF7 but has anyone realised that at the time the graphics for FF6 were amazing? FF6 is where they started putting more of an effort into graphics. BTW I like all FF's for different reasons except for IIIj, Mystic Quest, Legends and XI which I haven't played.

[Boosk]

I hated FFX for the resons stated above, but you wanna know the worst thing about it? The whistling scene.

(No offense to people who liked FFX.)

The only thing worse than FFX was FFX-2, and that was really crappy IMO. FFXI gave me little hope for Square, but I dont want XII to be another X or X-2. (Especially X-2)

ok i can see wot ure sayin (im new by the way hellooo!!!!! o and hey borisnono!pooooooooo) but wot about the buit in X-2 wen u can whistkle 4 a happy endin!! (sob sob!) i dont think its the best FF and its a bit 2 much like VIII but its still a fantabulas game!!!!! It is a bit lovey dovey tho....sigh...

K@!

[rcabronx]

I've only been playing FF games since part 7, so I cannot comment on any of the games before that one. I believe X (and X-2 for that matter), in terms of graphics, were the best... my fave for storyline however (and this is gonna get me lynched, I'm sure) was part 8. I could easily say without regret that part 8 has the best storyline, IMHO. It was rich and full of twist and turns, and, being a girlie girl, of course I bawled at the end (but I've bawled at the end of all of them, so that doesn't say much!) But X's story, although it was kinda meaty, was still flimsy. Heartwarming, yes, but flimsy nonetheless... Part 9's story was laughable, at best, and part 7 was also great. But what X lacked in story, it made up for in graphics and gameplay. Loved the cloisters, loved the monster arena, LOVED LOVED LOVED the no world map thing, and the music was killer. X-2 tho really got lots better than X in terms of gameplay and the different things you could do. Anywho, there are my two cents.

DUN :love:

[Lain]

All what said UltimaKnightGrover :
lol, at last somone think like me....I am not alone....
X-2 is crap, yeah

[JayDee]

I hated the graphics in X I much prefer VI and VII graphics
but I think that the worst to happen to the FF series
(other than the death of the world map and therefore
flying around mindlesly in an airdhip)
was the introduction of the voice actor
I took out all the imagination and personality
out of the characters. plus the characters are
getting stupider looker eg. Tidus, Wakka, Eiko, etc.

[xenapan]

IMO FFX was a great game... cept they forced too much into the mini-games, too many FMVs/cutscenes and it was just simply too linear. FFVII you walk out onto the world map.. do what you want for a while... if you get a new vehicle, you can explore new places. FFX you just walk on down that story line or walk backwards and only fight. Only things you would go back for in FFX are simply.. items.. and minigames which is another of the big problems with FFX.

Who enjoyed wandering around for tonberries? or playing dodge the lighting bolts? Or trying to get below 0 seconds on the chocobo catcher? playing catch the butterflies? eww eww eww and more eww. the battle arena was fun because you could take your time with it but the others require you to do things repeatedly, with little rewards...

i doubt anyone can say they enjoyed themselves dodging lighting bolts or trying to get below 0 seconds.

[rubah]

whereas I did have fun playing catch the butterfly. . .

for a while.

but it's way easier than chocobo racing and lightning dodging-_-

who enjoyed levelling up all the materia of a kind just to get a master one? I'm not too much right now, for sure. (although once I actually get one, I may be singing another tune, if I ever make it that far;)) Or what about a chocobo race where you get to the point where you just sit there and leave the room for the length of time until the others to get done?


However, in the ones that you can explore in, usually there's no benefit to doing so. In some cases you can't even go *inside* the places you find. That's a lot of wasted time and possibly items from going that far. of course if you have a vehicle it usually makes it a little bit easier (except that stupd dune buggy in ff7 and any of the cars in ff8. those things were crap@.@)

The linearity of ffx is probably mostly because it isn't your game-- it's yuna's. and since you aren't playing as her, you don't get to make the calls-- it's the way it would happen if it played out IRL. Later, when yuna becomes nearly useless, you get a chance to go explore. Just because the airship isn't nearly as fun as the ragnarok to fly in (oh man, as soon as I could control that sucker I was nearly in tears it was so awesome) doesn't mean there aren't places to explore. There aren't many (hmm, omega dungeon?) but they[it] are[is] there.

There isn't really a way to make it nonlinear, not without changing the plot. Yuna's goal is to defeat sin-- she wants to do it as quickly as possible, so to help the people she loves. it's based on her journey, even if it is told through tidus' pov. If she gets sidetracked (like in Luca and then somewhat in guadosalam then bevelle) the whole party is dragged along, because it's her that you agreed to *guard* if being dragged along after her isn't to your taste, when she asks you to become a guardian, turn the game off:)

[silent_ultima]

there's nothing wrong with FFX to me, all FF has it's pros and cons. For example, FF8 was great to me, but it's weak on it's storyline, FF9 was also great, but to me it's too childish, so what do you expect? We're all humans after all... :love: :eek:

[Sr. Tobias]

Squaresoft was a hard-working company that thought up great titles and GREAT storylines and GREAT game play, but then, in 1996-97, they decided to work on a game with GREAT graphics (compared to previous games), and that game was Final Fantasy 7.

if they had dared to not improve the graphics, half of the ppl that play th ff series today, would never hav bought any of th sequels. it would've been insane not to use th graphic potential of th ps1... if they had stuck with 2d, they would be dead by now.

plus, when square makes a new game, especially when it's for a new console, they take in consideration th old generation of gamers (their fans), as well as a NEW generation of gamers (little 12yr olds who never played ff b4). for th old generation, u get a great plot, and deep characters, and a challenging battle system, and such. that's what impresses us... for new players, u get amazing graphics and dazzling fmvs, and voice-over acting, and stuff like that. it might seem trivial to u, but it impresses them. and that's what perpetuates th ff cycle. coz even if u still buy ff games when u're 90, u eventually die, along with all ur generation of players, and if there's no new gen of players to take ur place, th company's bankrupt.
I've seen a lot of posts from ppl sayin "oh, they broke th tradition" and other crap like that, and I tell u: if they didn't there wouldn't be no square anymore...(there would be enix, but I think u'll agree th square part is much much better)

and also, even U would eventually get bored of th ff series if they didn't innovate. they hav to explore every new possibility in order to, one day, give us th perfect game, based on all th studies on th flaws, mistakes, and th good stuff of their previous games... (although this last paragraph is more of a utopic thing...)

[BackRoomKid]

wow....almost enough haters here to start a player hater's ball.....get the pimp cups..chocoboos and fake furs ready

LMAO...someone watches Dave Chappelle

"Hate, hate, hate, hate"

[Lon611]

We're all humans after all... :love: :eek:

MOST of us are humans *twitches*

[SomethingBig]

Well they all kinda follow the same story line basically Guy saves girl then Guy saves world.
Except FFIV, FFVI, FFVII, FF Tactics, FF Tactics Advance, and FFXI.


well u can make NETHING sound horrible when u say it like that . by ur standards i could go do the same with shakespeare...i think you understand it on a superficial level, which is good. but there are times in a ff, and with ffx the ENTIRE game, where u have to draw ur own conclusions and pick up on the subtleties(?)
Comparing FFX's disgusting plot to Shakespeare is like comparing dirty socks to chocolate; y'just can't do it. UKG explained FFX's plot in its entirety.

[rubah]

You do too have to save a girl in ff4!

I mean, doesn't rosa get like, kidnapped or something?

and arguably you have to save ritz from herself (or yourself from her:D) in TA.

Oh, and your forget, Shakespeare liked to reuse his plots often:) Reminescent of SE, you might say. (That's why I quit reading shakespeare a lot, because they started to all seem the same. Of course that was like four years ago though@.@; maybe they'd be fresh again by now:D)

[Lon611]

i say to each his own. some ppl love ffx (like me) while others despise it. some ppl adore ffvii, while some feel its ok (like me). but i think that threads like these eventually become pointless, because after awhile u begin trying to force ur views on other ppl.

seeing the flaws in ff and saying which one is better or which one is horrific is like going up to ur entire family and declaring which child is your favorite. just state ur point, and then go along with life. humbleness is a virtue *wink*. stop the confrontation