Ever think you're a fan of the FF series, but really just a fan of specific ones?

So...long story short, the past year or so has been turbulent w/ my feelings towards S-E. For a good half year or so, I decided I would move on from S-E. Then, just recently, I was like "nah, they coo" and decided they're okay in my book again. But this time "away" from them made me really reflect on how I feel about Final Fantasy.

On the surface, yes, I'm a Final Fantasy fan. But...I began to realize...I haven't liked a new FF game in 15+ years.

I disliked FF13, didn't care for pre-ARR FF14, ultimately disliked FF15 (I did like a lot of parts tho), and haven't played FF7R or SoP:FFO yet. I began to ask myself - am I a fan of Final Fantasy the franchise? Or just specific entries of the series? They're different worlds, different creative teams, different characters, different gameplay systems. The only commonality is their title (and yes, crystals in every other game or so). At least the Mana and SaGa series has had their same respective themes, mechanics, creators, etc, consistent throughout their runs. But they're not getting any new releases anyway, not counting remakes and remasters.

The mobile gacha games (and a game like World of FF) have allowed me to continue to experience adventures w/ the characters I love from various FF games. But w/o the mobile gacha games...where do I get that satisfaction? I likely won't play FF16 (don't have PS) and even though I think FF14ARR is pretty great, MMO's just aren't my thing anymore. So...am I really a fan of Final Fantasy? Or just...a handful of specific ones that are essentially existing in the past only? Does that matter? Can I stan FF4, FF12, etc, and have to specify that? When I'm asked if I like FF, I say yes, then followed up with "excited for FF16?" and I say "no", then...it goes into an explanation.

Anyway, just self-reflecting and self-psychoanalyzing how I feel about the series and my future relationship w/ the series.

I feel this way about Zelda sometimes. I've put countless hours into Ocarina of Time, it's one of my favorite games. But in terms of the Zelda series as a whole, the number of titles I've actually put time into is pretty spotty.

I'm definitely more of a fan of the Square era of FF than the Squenix era. I'm more of a casual fan these days who isn't going to rush out to buy he new installment. The only reason why I would still say I'm an FF fan is because I love more entries than I dislike them.

Franchises I'm more guilty of for this is stuff like Assassin's Creed, Star Ocean, Lufia, and Mario.

I used to think I’m more of a fan of specific entries, but there’s just something about FF in general that just pulls me in every time. The fact that I’m doing these marathons all the time probably speaks for itself lmao

I'm definitely a fan of the entire series. It's the sense of wonder I get from playing the games that so far other series just haven't matched consistently. There might be some exceptions to that, but they generally aren't very long series, and/or are a continuous story. A good example of this would be that I loved the first Wild Arms game, but didn't get pulled into the next one. I loved Grandia, but not as much as FF games. I love Elder Scrolls, but not consistently (Like Morrowind and Skyrim a lot, the rest aren't as special). I love Subnautica and it has the sense of wonder for sure, but it's short and in a persistent world.

Final Fantasy is relatively unique in it's ability to consistently create brand new worlds that capture me every time.

I'm essentially a fan of Sakaguchi's FF as well as the FF's from the Kitase/Nomura/Nojima/Toriyama/Hamaguchi team. I love almost everything they've done in FF.


FF13 and FF15 suffered greatly from their engine problems. But I still like the general style and their basic concepts.


On the other hand, we have Matsuno (Tactics and FF12) and Yoshida (FF14 and FF16). Unfortunately, their games don't appeal to me at all. The bright colors are missing. The humor is missing. I also miss characters to fall in love with. A general Japanese feeling is missing. It feels very inspired by western trends and MMOs. Which isn't surprising since Matsuno's FF12 used the FF11 engine and Yoshida is of course the MMO guru. But it bores me.