Quote Originally Posted by Azar View Post
I love it when people hold Final Fantasy up on this high-and-mighty platform like Square has done no wrong in the past and has somehow now fallen from glory.

I think it's a good game, but that's really irrelevant to my point: it's a Final Fantasy because they say it is, and they stuck a number on it. So's Crystal Chronices, so's XI. Just because a game doesn't happen to have a Cid or moogles or chocobos or a very specific type of plot, it's still an entry in the series, and that's all there is to it. If they decided to make FFXIV like Contra, it would still be a Final Fantasy game. The only exceptions, in my opinion, are due to weird localization or something like that, which doesn't really happen anymore: for example, Final Fantasy Adventure is a Seiken Densetsu game, not a FF game.
Thank god, someone understands this concept about FF and where it stands in RPGs...

Also this is not directed towards anyone but is just me ranting... Feel free to ignore

Since when has FF had some high standard for good storytelling? The series has always been about innovation but story wise the series as a whole is weak. FFVII and FFX are examples of good storytelling? Hell no. VII has horribly obvious plotholes (the fact that SE is using the FFVII expansions like Last Order to fix them, proves it.) and FFX is just...no it's just bad. It tries so hard to be deep and melacholic but it's horribly predicatable and it's cast has to be the worst to appear in the series yet... don't get me started on the "Tidus plot twist"... I just cannot bring myself to like this interactive movie that's a tech demo to show off what the PS2 can do...

The series has always been about pushing what an RPG can be. FFIV brought about the emphasis in story and character. FFVI brought about a more epic movie quality to it with more dramatic music and movie style story sequences. FFVII brought it into 3D and showed the power of emotional impact through the advent of cutscenes. FFVIII tried to rebuild the concept of RPG, though most feel it failed, I appreciate the effort. FFX introduced voice work to add more to cutscenes. FFXI brought the series into the MMO genre. FFXII has brough forth a new level of world design that is unprecedented in JRPGs up until this time. Hell some MMO's wish they had the level of detail in their worlds that FFXII has.

To me the only defining theme in the FF series is innovation nothing more. Not "good" music, not "good" storytelling, not the "good" characters, not the "good" gameplay, not the "good" world design, not even chocobos, moogles, and Uncle Cid. Why? Cause the quality in all of these fields vary throughout the series. Even when the game is bad it's still considered an FF (look at FFX-2 and Mystic Quest). It's only a standard if it stays consistant and it doesn't I'm afraid. But innovation is cosistant even after the original team has left, the series continues to innovate and change our way of seeing RPGs. If one considers the FF series to be the pinnacle of "good" in the RPG genre then you must not play many RPGs outside the series or you are obviously an obsessed fanboy (or fangirl).

I don't mind people sharing there opinions (I just did and I'm probably going to get flamed for it ) but coming up with your own warped version of what makes a game part of the series is just stupid.

I generally like Tim Burton movies, but I don't like Planet of the Apes, it didn't even feel like a Tim Burton movie to me. Does that mean I can say it's not a Tim Burton movie? No, cause it is. I just have to accept it and go watch Nightmare Before Christmas or Big Fish and just forget that it exists. (I was doing good too, until I thought up this stupid allegory ).

I think I'm finished with my rant. Also, let's try not to devolve this into a "Which is the best in the series" thread. We all like and dislike different games in the series. That there should prove my point about the inconsistancies of the quality of the games; cause none of us can agree on what is a "good" FF game. :rolleyes2