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Yuna is very much a blank slate kind of character in FFX. I like her but she doesn't make as much of an impression as most of the other playable characters do. Rinoa (as much as I like her) is essentially a spoilt, rich girl who forms a rebel group to annoy her father and because she has nothing better to do. But the game never really pretends she's anything otherwise in the early stages. She's a more polarising character than Yuna, but I think she's a more fleshed out one.
It's hard for me to choose. I haven't played X in ages due to my PS2 being dead, so if I would pick it would be unfair considering I would be deciding on something that I've played recently and a game that I don't remember as well.
This is an interesting comparison since both games are the ones with a 'love story' as part of the central theme. FFIX is the other one, but it blows both of these out of the water so let's ignore it.
I prefer FFX. It has some flaws with the voice acting, boring villains, and linearity, but I really liked the CTB and the sphere grid was a pretty cool idea the first time they used it (just got played out when XII and XIII/XIII-2 used it). Also Auron is cooler than any FFVIII character.
FFVIII has the GF's which were cool and it was a nice change of pace on how summons worked, but I found the characters overall pretty bland and drawing magic was the worst FF gameplay element since FFII.
Okay, I have some 80s pop blasting and I feel like I'm ready to talk more about this.
I've talked in the past about the Most Unlikable FF Cast (don't feel like looking upa nd linking to the thread though) and FFVIII was my choice by a mile. The reason for this is because, despite six games of evolution, FFVIII is more like FFII in terms of its playable characters. You could squish all that useless fluff text they speak into a few text boxes on a NES and you wouldn't lose any vital characterization. Quistis, Zell, Irvine, Selphie - they're all awful stereotypes and they never grow beyond those stereotypes.
But ya know...maybe the writers were onto something. When they actually did try to develop characters, look at the trainwreck they created.
Squall: I'M FLIPPING DA SMURF OUT BECAUSE I'M AFRAID OF BEING FORGOTTEN!
*runs out of room*
Everyone: WHAT THE!?!?!!
And then the story trundles along like nothing at all happened.
FFX at least gave every single character an arc of some kind in which they developed and grew. And unlike FF7, it was usually drawn out. Whereas VII just threw Red into Cosmo Canyon or Yuffie into Wutai and then said "well they're done having any relevancy now", FFX had Wakka and Lulu and the others all grow over the course of the game.
Let's switch onto another note - World vs. World.
FFX goes to great pains to establish its atmosphere. Spira is a craphole. Death, suffering, hopelessness - they run rampant across the globe. The bleak existence is painted quite well.
Now in FFVIII....you have Balamb Garden. You literally have at least two or maybe even three (if you count Selphie) horribly screwed-in-the-head child soldiers who you place a ton of responsibility on. Both Seifer and Squall are suffering the painful effects of having absolutely no therapist or counseling of any kind.
Yet rather than focusing on this and how a military academy of SMURFING CHILD SOLDIERS is monstrous and has a horrific effect on anyone who attends it, it's treated like a super kerwaii high school.
FFVIII had the potential to be damn dark but they chose instead to portray it like some extremely godawful shounen anime.
Now getting back to characters, let's focus on the antagonist side.
FFVIII has...President Deling, NORG, Ultimecia and Seifer.
Now as awesome as NORG and Seifer were, they can't make up for how awful Ultimecia is. All those twats who rage about Seymour being bland and unoriginal? Yeah, I feel the same way about Ultimecia. And what pisses me off to no end is when the apologists try to pretend she was anything but a one-dimensional piece of garbage.
B-B-B-B-B-B-UT SHE WAS TRAUMATIZED AND AFRAID AND SHE WAS JUST TRYIGN TO TAME HER FEAR1111111111
B
No, she was just evil and stupid. She frickin' lives in a Dracula Castle okay?
Her being afraid of being killed or being persecuted or any of that nonsense is based on maybe three lines in the ENTIRE GAME.
I will conclude my raving with this:
http://i.imgur.com/YMEJ4.jpg
Bg Chocoboss does not like FFVIII.
Ultimecia's Castle is great. Just saying. And frankly I'm glad FFVIII isn't 'damn dark', I don't want my FF games to be hideously depressing thanks.
Agree. Ultimecia has a awesome castle with badass music.Quote:
Originally Posted by charliepanayi
And agree about not wanting a Final Fantasy too be extremely dark and depressing because sometimes it's nice to pop into a different world and escape for a while.
About Squall snapping out and then leaving the room I always assumed that they thought that it was best to leave Squall alone and give him some time to chill out. Just speaking to him about Seifer's death would of made things worse. It makes sense.
If you want FF VIII to be dark and depressing of course your going to end up disappointed. Light, comedy and brightness helps attract the player towards the game. Darkness would just end up making the player feel depressed.
Spria is just one straight line with same temple with something slightly different about it like a lame copy and paste.
The only different places are Zanakand, Zanakand Ruins and maybe Mt Gagazet which isn't completely original. We don't even get to see Bevelle for crying out loud, minus a bridge !
FF VIII has a whole universe and awesome airship to explore and discover a huge world with unique places. Like Esthar and that strange underground village in the snow where the Norg like people live.
Ultimecia was badly developed yes and she should of had more time to deepen her character. However at least she didn't try to marry Seifer and wear a lame goofy Harry Potter I rejected hat. :greenie:
Ultimecia is not in the same league as the other major villains of the FFVI-FFX era, it is true. She doesn't have enough direct screentime or great lines like Kefka, Kuja et al do. But she doesn't just pop up at the end, her influence is felt throughout the game and she's always pulling the strings, as she possesses Edea/Rinoa/Adel. Plus as mentioned her castle is great and I love the battle with her at the end. No idea what Time Compression is all about really, but as I always say it's not a proper FF game if you can understand the whole plot.
Agree.Quote:
Originally Posted by charliepanayi
Plus that evil speech during the parade that's all Ultimeca
Almost killing Squall with a Ice shaped spear that's Ultimeca
Trying to kill Rinoa with those lizard lions that's Ultimeca
Controlling Seifer during the parade that is Ultimeca
I don't see how people don't get this or see this. Honestly it's pretty damn obvs and out there.
Since what I was saying was completely misunderstood, I'll elaborate.
I have a game.
The game's premise is a death camp.
Instead of focusing on the horrific experiments and daily murders, we instead focus on the angst-ridden lives of a teenager who falls in love for no reason.
That's my problem with Final Fantasy VIII. They give us what is essentially a very grim setting - a school where young orphans are brought together to learn to kill for a living while receiving no emotional support so they grow up totally smurfed in the head - and they present it like some sort of spiffy teenage fantasy.
"Yeah! I wish my high school was as kewl as Garden!" is the message they want o convey.
That.
Is.
Retarded.
You can almost imagine some poor enterprising Japanese writer coming to a meeting with his eyes full of dreams and hopes about a story where the school is a hellhole run by incompetent jerks who have horribly traumatized all the chilren they have taken in.
Then the director slapped him across the face and told him to stop being so ambitious. Final Fantasy VII was such a megahit that there was no time for proper writing or thinking whatsoever. They had to get this game out NOW. Just take his basic idea of a military school and turn it into a shallow wet dream.
Don't the Balamb students receive their first mission when they're 18? That's old enough to be sent to war in most nations' military forces.
Quistis became a SeeD at 15 which presumably meant she could have gone out and done missions if she so wished.
Doesn't really matter though because all of the player characters are horrifically maladjusted because they grew up in a military institute. Battle or no battle, Balamb is a pretty terrible place and it should have been presented as such.
Cid should have been presented as an incompetent oaf who has severely screwed up his impressionable charges and not Robin Williams.
Cid was this though. He was a incompetent oaf who screwed up everything. During the fight with Galbadia he runs and hides like a coward.Quote:
Originally Posted by Forsaken Lover
I think it's pretty clear that Balamb was corrupted though. Norg and Cid who built the Garden had issues and Cid was a terrible leader.
Final Fantasy all series is indeed great but I have enjoyed much only two of these, the first on is FF VI and X.