Atmosphere

[Pike]

Which FFs do you think had a really great atmosphere? FF7 is kind of a given, but FFXII really surprised me a lot with how much I loved running around that opening town and exploring it. I liked how they had a whole segment of the city underground.

[Hollycat]

Ooh, a good question, not just which game is good, but which one FELT good, is that what you are asking?

I would have to say ix and xii fit that for me with the huge abundance of NPC's, and unique areas that don't just feel familiar. in xii, that is mostly restricted to Rabanastre, Bhujerba, and the port cities. The new races also felt neat, especially the eagle people.

ix is the only ff that feels cartoony to me whilst still being a major game I can invest lots of time in, the areas are all quite unique, from a women power castle to steampunk city to stonage dwarfdom.

I would say vii is good too, but honestly the only towns I visit more than once are mideel, rocket town, and midgar. Mideel only because I have to.

I would even say, to an extent, viii has some very neat places that it feels good just to be in. actually just one, balamb garden, but it still counts.

[Sephex]

Final Fantasy IX. From the forbodding nature of the Myst continent to haunting melodies that accompany places like Esto Gaza, you could practically feel the breath of IX's atmosphere coming from the CD case.

[ShinGundam]

Final Fantasy VIII's atmosphere is my overall favorite for the whole series with VII,IX,X.

[Loony BoB]

Of those I've played, I would rank atmosphere as best in VII, then XIII, then VIII. I've not got far enough through III, IV or IX to say much for them. It was hard for me to get into the atmosphere in XII because I never really got too attached to the story, which for me plays a massive part in the atmosphere.

VII trumps the lot somehow. I'm not exactly certain how it did it, but every movement through every area (arguably Costa Del Sol and Wutai excepted) felt like it should have felt in the story. When you were in the slums, they felt like slums. When meteor hovered in the sky, you felt the threat it posed. When you got the Highwind, you felt the exhileration at the freedom it gave you with that wonderful music that accompanied it. I would say that the music plays perhaps even more of a part than the environments do, now that I think about it. It's perfectly done.

XIII has atmosphere because of very different reasons. Sure, the music and the environments are good. But Basically, the storyline and the characters and the NPC comments. You felt like a refugee every bit of the way. People often criticise the fact that story is so linear and how you can't go back to previously visited zones, but despite the damage this made to gameplay, it did build on the atmosphere. You were in a world where you could not stay anywhere for long, you were on the run, and run you did. Some environments didn't really give you the feeling it could have, but luckily the characters were able to keep you in the atmosphere of a refugee. You felt the fear of the people when the purge was in full swing, you dragged yourself through the dirty dustbin of Cocoon, you went through all-this-dampness-is-damp greeneries, you snuck your way around people as they went about their business, you got caught and caught again, you kept running and you eventually escaped and felt the full thrust of freedom when you finally got to Pulse, and then an entirely different kind of atmosphere held you there. I liked it.

VIII had atmosphere in certain places, but not so much atmosphere in the game as a whole. I would say that every town and location had it's own unique atmosphere in this game. Deling City, Fisherman's Horizon, Balamb, Esthar... you could feel each differently.

[Rantz]

I would have to agree on IX and XII. And VIII, to some extent, but as others have said it's only really atmospheric in select places.

[Slothy]

VII trumps the lot somehow. I'm not exactly certain how it did it, but every movement through every area (arguably Costa Del Sol and Wutai excepted) felt like it should have felt in the story. When you were in the slums, they felt like slums. When meteor hovered in the sky, you felt the threat it posed. When you got the Highwind, you felt the exhileration at the freedom it gave you with that wonderful music that accompanied it. I would say that the music plays perhaps even more of a part than the environments do, now that I think about it. It's perfectly done.

I would say VII nailed it's atmosphere in large part due to the music as well. Not only is it one of the best soundtracks in the series, but almost every track is pitch perfect for the scenes it's used in. I think this one benefited a lot from the lack of technical limitations the PSX offered because it let Uematsu really just compose for each area and scene and no sacrifices really had to be made in terms of the number of compositions.

Though admittedly I think the art style worked heavily in its favour as well. The move to pre-rendered background helped on its own, but I liked that the areas in the game are rarely attempts to make photo realistic towns or villages. There's still some amount of exaggeration of their features, proportions not being quite right and that sort of thing which I think let them be a bit more creative in how they designed them whereas games like FFVIII and later on FFX or XIII strived more for that realistic graphical style that VII wasn't in a position to go for, but which can come off seeming kind of bland when not done right. VII's areas, while still quite detailed for the time are still simpler and less detailed than what came later and I think it made them cut to the heart of how each was supposed to look and feel whereas later games are sometimes losing that feeling in the little details to some extent, although they still have their share of great areas.

I'd also add my agreement that FFIX, XII, and I think VI as well had great atmosphere through out. IX for being the first to have an absolutely massive, detailed living world, and XII for being something of a progression of what we saw in IX. If IX pulled off a massive detailed world, then XII's was gargantuan and overflowing with characters, history, cities, ruins, etc. to discover and explore. There really is nothing else in the series that comes close.

And VI I think managed a remarkable amount of atmosphere for the time it came out and the technical limitations they had to overcome. It had a soundtrack that is easily equal to or better than VII's, and despite some repetition of certain songs, is usually dead on as well with the scenes they play in. Moreover, each town saw a big jump in number of NPC's from FFIV (FFV wasn't out when I originally played it), and despite re-using tile sets for pretty much every town, created a hell of a lot of unique layouts that I still distinctly remember to this day. You've also got individual scenes like the opera, traveling to Vector, the Espers escaping, everything leading up to the floating continent and the World of Ruin which are permanently seared into my memory because they're so epic, and not to go unmentioned, the complete shift in tone for the game when you awake to the WoR. That almost overwhelming sense of hopelessness. That even as you struggle on you can't help but question why. What is left to save, and can the world ever recover? When we win will we just slowly die anyway? The last half of the game is positively dripping atmosphere.

[Jinx]

I really love VII and IX. I think it's because each area is so distinct and unique in both, so you don't feel as if you're just out in the random place or town. It place has its own identity.

[Flying Arrow]

^ Vivi nailed most of it. The genuinely great thing about the FF series is the world building and atmosphere of each game - certain games are better than others, yeah, but almost all of them are at the top of the pile when it comes to gaming as a whole. It's the reason why I still come back to play certain entries in the series that I don't even care for. Case in point: Two weeks ago I finished my third playthrough of FFX since its release. I don't think FFX is a good game at all, but the atmosphere, music, and general sense of place are just so effective that I'm still getting something from this game that I don't even like that I don't get from games that I do like but which have weaker, more mediocre "atmosphere". Does that make sense?

Answering the question:

Everything from VI and on is just superb. VII and XII, however, are at the top for me. VII because the pre-rendered adventure game style of the presentation just totally fits with the kind of game it is, and also because the world-building is just phenomenal. Nothing is out of place and in the end everywhere you go calls back in some way to Midgar and the theme of environmental or social degradation. Almost every town plays a key role in the game's narrative, so you can always feel the dread of Shinra's actions. Whatever VII's merits or demerits as a game, I really feel like it just kind of transcends the genre in how well it presents itself. The only other game I feel like this about is Chrono Cross.

XII is great in a different way because it's just such a fabulous, well realized game world. Like, this is the kind of world I have been wanting to explore in a game since I first picked up a controller as a kid barely able to tie his own shoes. Everything from the varied, wide open "world map" areas to the bustling cities are pitch perfect. VIII and IX slightly disappointed me because I felt like their worlds were kind of disjointed, and X bothered me a lot because despite the great atmosphere and narrative I already mentioned none of that scope comes from the actual playing of the game. XII was like the perfect FF game for me at the time, who was more or less disillusioned with the series. I really should go back and play it again to see if it holds up.

[Jiro]

And VI I think managed a remarkable amount of atmosphere for the time it came out and the technical limitations they had to overcome. It had a soundtrack that is easily equal to or better than VII's, and despite some repetition of certain songs, is usually dead on as well with the scenes they play in. Moreover, each town saw a big jump in number of NPC's from FFIV (FFV wasn't out when I originally played it), and despite re-using tile sets for pretty much every town, created a hell of a lot of unique layouts that I still distinctly remember to this day. You've also got individual scenes like the opera, traveling to Vector, the Espers escaping, everything leading up to the floating continent and the World of Ruin which are permanently seared into my memory because they're so epic, and not to go unmentioned, the complete shift in tone for the game when you awake to the WoR. That almost overwhelming sense of hopelessness. That even as you struggle on you can't help but question why. What is left to save, and can the world ever recover? When we win will we just slowly die anyway? The last half of the game is positively dripping atmosphere.

The music really saved it for me. A lot of the towns are pretty generic thanks to the reusing of tile sets and whatnot, but the different music gave them a unique identity.

[Loony BoB]

Huh, the music is what I dislike the most about FFVI. It just makes me so sleepy. =| There are a couple of places that the music wakes up a little, but almost every other tune seems to drag for me to the point that I mute the game and just play it that way to stop myself from nodding off. It's rather annoying, personally. I'm not saying that's bad music, because there are a lot of lullabies which are wonderful for sleeping to, but I don't want to fall asleep as I game! I do think it's the limitations of the system it was designed for that lets the music down. Perhaps if they remade the game with a remastered soundtrack it would be a bit more engaging for me. Dunno.

[Flying Arrow]

As much as I love it, there's something about FFVI that makes me sleepy too. Definitely not the music, though. I think it might be the general colour palette.

[Wolf Kanno]

Huh, the music is what I dislike the most about FFVI. It just makes me so sleepy. =| There are a couple of places that the music wakes up a little, but almost every other tune seems to drag for me to the point that I mute the game and just play it that way to stop myself from nodding off. It's rather annoying, personally. I'm not saying that's bad music, because there are a lot of lullabies which are wonderful for sleeping to, but I don't want to fall asleep as I game! I do think it's the limitations of the system it was designed for that lets the music down. Perhaps if they remade the game with a remastered soundtrack it would be a bit more engaging for me. Dunno.

You are... so strange, and you're officially dead to me now.

Vivi22, mostly nailed my thoughts. For me, Music is usually the best thing for mood for me. I'm not honestly as impressed by visuals if the music accompaniment doesn't fit for me. I feel music gave decent atmosphere to old school games that have re-used tile sets, and I've watched the soundtrack kill visually stunning locales in newer entries.

[Del Murder]

I agree with what most have said about FFVII. It is the clear winner for me in terms of atmosphere. Every single moment was captured perfectly.

[black orb]

>>> Most of the FF games had a great atmosphere..