lol props on takin my advice, classic title, too.

I think Final Fantasy is the trendsetter (at least outside of Japan). When it debuted it really went beyond all of its peers in almost every aspect and since then it's been the leader. When the series changed again, evolving into something bigger, the other companies again had to follow suit. I have to say I enjoy playing every game in the series.

Now for the high points. I think FFVI has to be one of the first ones you talk about, being that it is the best game in the series. Everything in it was great from the story, to the characters, music and graphics. Every piece of music in the game has so much going on, it is very distinguishable from others at the time, being almost like a play in the Romantic Era. It rightfully was the last 2d FF in that I think it is, without question, the best of the first 6.

Right after that I would have to say the series evolved into something more than just games. There's glimpses of this all throughout FFV and VI, but it really came to fruition with VII. And that is this: after the move to Sony, FF wasn't just games that you played, it was an experience that you took part in. Sakaguchi's goal was to make games that surpass movies in that they make you feel apart of what's going on in ways that film simply cannot. With improvements in video and sound, the things you saw, the music you heard, and the actions you took really made you feel apart of this cinematic struggle.

It's hard for me to decide whether the other highpoint then is either VII or VIII, because it was the former that introduced it, but VIII really took it and built upon it and perfected it. I call these games and the one that came before it the "Kitase Trilogy" due to the similar feel and themes, but mostly because they were 3 games in a row that he directed that really mark a turning point for the series.

With that being said I think XII, although it's one of my favorite games in years, and IMO one of the best out, it was a departure from Sakaguchi's dream. It is a great game, the gameplay is easy yet so complex i feel i'll still be finding new things out in years. It also has an epic storyline and exception contemporary game music to go with it. But that feel, that certain feeling you get when you step into one of these worlds, is gone. I realized this after beating it for a second time and I may write a 2nd reaction thread to elaborate, but that's how i feel in a nutshell. When you buy a FF, you're buying an experience, not just a great game, and to me, that is FFXII's biggest (and only) downfall.

I listed 2 highpoints and I also have a second lowpoint. And to me that has to be FFIX. Don't get me wrong, this game does stand alone and there are certain qualities of it that put it above the other entries. But to me, they tried too hard to make a game that was FF, that they kinda forgot what it's about. I feel the storyline is too generic, the battle system a bit sluggish, and it just doesn't take as many chances as the 3 games before it did. It absolutely succeeds in that "experience" that i mentioned earlier, but something else was missing. If you consider this to be a "Tribute" game, then in that specific confine it works, because almost all of its elements, especially in story, are good combinations of the rest of the games. But it didn't do enough to make it its own specific FF, it's not really distinguishable from the others.

As far as where the series is going, I'm really looking forward to FFXIII, and am eager to see where the man that brought us VI, VII, and VIII back-to-back takes us to now.