FFIX was the last great Final Fantasy

[WhiteStorm]

Last great FF was VII. It was innovative, but still remained faithful to the series. I'm not a big fan, but what came after this one is either boring, ridiculous, tedious, annoying or just not a FF game... or worse, a combination of all that.

VIII's story was kinda good but the game itself wasn't challenging. You could become Superman in the middle of disc 2 with all those junctions.

As for IX:

I personally think the game is grossly overrated due to people easily being played by nostalgia and easter eggs.

I agree. The first 2 discs are great, but then the plot goes down and crashes.

X's story is utterly ridiculous and Tidus is annoying as hell. Aside from Auron, Lulu and the combat system this FF has nothing worth mentioning. I hated blitzball and still can't understand the thought process that ended in the conclusion this minigame is fun.

X-2 is plain fanservice. No plot, no sense whatsoever.

Never played XI, since it's a MMORG and there are better ones. XII is good, but it's not a FF. Looked and played more like Vagrant Story (which is no coincidence, since the same team that made the latter worked on this one). The story was very intricate and I thought it was interesting to see a more politically-focused plot, but the game itself becomes tedious very fast.

I'm currently playing XIII, 'cause I can't spend countless hours playing anymore and so far (I'm starting disc 2) I find the story interesting, a little weird, but it stands. Vanille is annoying, Hope is even worse (too bad he has the best magical powers), Lightning is female Squall (enough said), Snow tries too hard to be a "hero" and the only really interesting character I've found so far is Sazh. He seems more human than the rest of them and is definitely more likeable.

I understand Hope, really, but some times his attitude (especially when it comes to Snow) just annoys me. I mean, tell the guy already! Or better yet, tell him about your mother and then punch him in the face, he'll feel so guilty that he won't hit you back. Buuuuut I guess, they have to make this conflict go on for as long as they can to add to the plot.

It's a shame, really, the great FF classics had better plots, more likeable characters and a good combat system that made the experience enjoyable. Lately, the developers seem more worried about making incredible CGs and coming up with the most complicated plots and forget about basic things such as who is the protagonist of the story. In FFXII, it's not Vaan or Penelo, it's Ashe. In X, it's Yuna. XIII has found what I think had been missing for a while, a balance between the importance of each character. I still have a way to go, but so far, I've seen the story focus a little on each of them, except Vanille. I know there's a reason for this and I have my suspicions, but I'm playing along.

I really hope the next game becomes the last great FF, because fans deserve to have another title as epic as FF6.

[Bolivar]

This is egregious! This is atrocious! The logic is simultaneously infuriating and self-defeating!

j/k. When I first beat FFIX I thought it might have been the best game I ever played and definitely better than the other two PlayStation Final Fantasies. Years and playthroughs later, that's not really the case. It doesn't take nearly as many risks as FFVIII and the combat isn't as smooth, well-directed, or deep as FFVII. But it's far more well rounded than either of those two and that's why we have three awesome FF titles on the PlayStation that each could be the best (in my book).

But calling it the last great game in the series is horse crap. Utter BS. FFX is a great game. It gets hated on for arbitrary reasons, it's almost funny to watch people try to craft abstract, flimsy arguments on why it's bad. It's a solid game with a lot of awesome stuff in it. And FFXII? Wow. Seriously, wow. I invented the "it doesn't feel like a FF" argument but I'll be damned if that game isn't an insane bundle of gameplay. The story's killer too although it's not particularly well paced. XIII isn't bad, but it doesn't attain greatness, although some of its constituent parts undoubtedly do. The only way I could see the argument is if you mean it was the last title with a world map, ATB, a numerous & varied cast, random encounters, and such FF elements. But it's hardly the last great title in the series.

The article itself was obvious flame bait consisting of generalizations that would fall like a house of cards if put under closer examination and critique. It says FFIX was open world and encouraged you to explore more than the later games did. Exploration is a huge HUGE part of FFXII, there's is so much open to you that you absolutely have no requirement to see, even very, very early on in the game, it's utterly ridiculous. And with marks, chaining, and espers, there's even a few extra incentives to go out there. Also, I love, absolutely LOVE how almost every article these days remotely connected to FF HAS to take a stab at FFVII. "Think about the hits and comments we'll get from all the fanboys!!!" Dude, he actually says the backgrounds in FFVII are jaggy - THEY'RE PRE-RENDERED BACKGROUNDS THEY'RE NOT EVEN JAGGY ON A BIG SCREEN HDTV. And then he says FFVII hasn't aged as well as IX. I might accept this when it comes to the script, but on a PSP, FFVII has aged incredibly well, but when you take in the load speeds and combat flow, it's aged considerably better than FFIX.

TLDR - awesome game, not the last great entry in the series, article is poorly constructed flame bait anyway.

[Levian]

FFX is the last great FF game
FFX-2 is the last good FF game
FFXIII is the last ff game so far.

(:

(imho)

[sir helix]

FFXIII a great game but lacked the soul it had been made out to have,

ffXII I hated for the fact it made me think i was playing runescape on meth. the map was awsome but i was so used to old FF that I was only able to beat this game cus I had a buddy lvl my team up for me, I just couldnt do it.

FFX-2 was only good if you want a quik actiony game with no soul, and that makes you feel good cause youve beaten a chapter......some people

FFX was sort of linear and had the most pointless inns, the only true dungeon in the game is only located by accident.

FFIX was a great game but i do agree it was a croud pleaser

FFVIII had a great theme to its lvling system, by becoming stronger you not only lowered your salery by taking to long but you made your enemies stronger as well (adel lol)

FFVII being the first FF id played like most other ppl, I have a special place in my heart for it, But c'mon silent hero thats got personality disorders, a lora croft chested kick ass chick, a black guy with a foul mouth, a weak little girl, a kitty on a goomba, a wise wolf/cat thingy, a ninja girl thats only interested in whats in your pants (dont even go there), and a drunk pilot that wants to go to the moon.....oh and gothic superman cant for get gold finger.

FFVI perfect game never knew who you were running into.

FFV still cant get the hang of it

FFI-IV 'applause all around'

[Bolivar]

For your listening pleasure: looped, Final Fantasy 9 OST Feel My Blade - YouTube

After a couple glasses and a couple replays of this I'm getting closer to agreeing with the article. Don't get me wrong, I still love FFX & FFXII but...

When you listen to this ish and think about the stuff you were actually doing (setting off fireworks and using props) it almost makes you want to cry because of how far gaming has fallen... I know it's a cliche to talk about how things are worse now than they were in the good ol' days, but seriously..... WTF!!?!?!?!?

[Wolf Kanno]

I actually never felt there was much argument for the need of a world map in RPGs until I played FFIX recently and completely forgot about the little things like watching airships fly by while you rode your chocobo.

[Rostum]

I wouldn't say gaming has "fallen", just taken a different direction to what I would have liked.

[*Devore*]

TBH, the only reason people find characters annoying in modern games is because they have voices and animation which allows them to express themselves like the creators wanted.
Go back to one of the older games, upgrade it to FFXIII standards, re:release it and im sure there would be loads of people hating the characters. Pre-X, you would imagine the perfect voice for the character, now your stuck with what the creators give you.
And I dont care what anyone says, FFXII is a great game. Each party member is equally important (excluding Fran and Penelo who were pretty pointless bar one level each). A ridiculously big map and diverse map. And a gripping story...IMO.

[Jiro]

the little things like watching airships fly by while you rode your chocobo.

This. THIS. It's something simple like putting some airships in the sky that makes the world actually feel populated.

[ShinGundam]

the little things like watching airships fly by while you rode your chocobo.

This. THIS. It's something simple like putting some airships in the sky that makes the world actually feel populated.

I am not convinced by that, I would say shrinking the spaces would make it feel populated.

[Jiro]

Ehhh, if the space was small and had things in it, maybe. But when you wander around the overworld in most FF games, there is trout all else going on. You are it. I could walk around the inside of my bathroom, but that doesn't mean there's things going on.

We'll look at the inside of FF games, for example. There are often NPCs on predetermined paths walking around. That is infinitely better than having a bunch of people just standing around. The next step up from that is something like Oblivion where the characters go other places too! It makes everything come alive, rather than just being a canvas for you to paint all over with your actions.

I kind of digressed there but my point is that even a couple of airships in the sky, a huge sky, makes things feel more populated and alive than smaller spaces and a lack of "stuff" would.

[Melodies_of_life]

IX is probably still my favorite of the series so far. I've always been a sucker for the midevil setting whether in a book or a game. Even today with all the upgrades in graphics and musical scores I still prefer the story lines of the earlier FF games(ps1 games that is). After all, I play a game for the story, graphics are just a bonus to me.

[Hollycat]

screw this article. I am a diehard XII fan, even though it was missing character developement, it had awesome battle, great environments, a terrific story, memorable areas and enemies, a great developement system, and moogles. 9 was the last ff with moogles till then so it gets points there, but xii has awesomesauce all over it

[Bolivar]

screw this article. I am a diehard XII fan, even though it was missing character developement, it had awesome battle, great environments, a terrific story, memorable areas and enemies, a great developement system, and moogles. 9 was the last ff with moogles till then so it gets points there, but xii has awesomesauce all over it

Oh, man, the moogles. XII was glorious when it came to the moogles.

[champagne supernova]

We'll look at the inside of FF games, for example. There are often NPCs on predetermined paths walking around. That is infinitely better than having a bunch of people just standing around. The next step up from that is something like Oblivion where the characters go other places too! It makes everything come alive, rather than just being a canvas for you to paint all over with your actions.

Yeah, and then I'll need to wait for two years before the game is patched enough for me to play. And then still have bugs (the vampire one was truly annoying).