Ivalice Alliance vs. Compilation of VII

[Wolf Kanno]

So which did you like better, what were your favorite games from each?

[qwertysaur]

Ivalice Allience by far. the titles support each other, not retcon like the Compilation. Tactics A2 is my favorite.

[Forsaken Lover]

Well, on the one hand, the Compilation has all the sexy characters.

On the other hand, the Alliance has all the good plot.

It's hard to say.

[Fynn]

Ivalive Alliance. See, this group of games existing actually makes sense, because Ivalice is a huge, living, breathing world.

[Bolivar]

The games that actually have a logical reason for existing.

[Skyblade]

No poll? For shame.

Also, why not toss Fabula Nova Crystalis into it as well? Not that it would change anything, though.

Because, sorry, it's the Ivalice Alliance, hands down. And we all know it.

[Roogle]

I think that both series have great beginnings and lose their focus as the series branched out. I prefer the feel of the Ivalice Alliance as it focuses on a much larger time frame and allows for more creativity rather than forcing all stories to take place within the same few generations.

[Wolf Kanno]

No poll? For shame.

Also, why not toss Fabula Nova Crystalis into it as well? Not that it would change anything, though.

Because, sorry, it's the Ivalice Alliance, hands down. And we all know it.

Added a poll, and I didn't add FNC because while the games share similar mythologies, they are seperate games barring XIII's sequels.

[Del Murder]

Comp of FFVII only had FFVII as a strong entry. IA had Tactics and FFXII as strong entries, and the other games were also actually worth playing. Well, I guess Crisis Core was worth playing for the ending. That was some powerful trout.

[Forsaken Lover]

I'm telling you guys, sexy men dressed all in leather.

The IA is sorely lacking in that and thus its victory is not absolute.

[VeloZer0]

There isn't an option for neither. Both are weak derivatives of their original titles.

[Elly]

on the contrary IA did retcon some things, like for instance the existance of the Banga & Viera... in the original FFT and Vagrant Story there were never any races other than human, that i can remember, until FFTA...
even though i love the IA the gameplay of most of its entries annoys the hell out of me, so this one goes to the Compilation... its only weak entry gameplaywise was DoC, whereas the weak entries for IA for me was FFT, FFTA, FFTA2, & Revenant Wings...
anytime i put a Tactics game in and try to play it it becomes hours of frustration and a long string of expletives, i put in anything from FFVII and its bliss, im content and happy...

on a sidenote, wouldnt it be awesome if they continued the Riskbreaker Arc in the IA, i distinctly remember the commercials for Vagrant Story claiming it was the first in the RiskBreaker Saga...

[Loony BoB]

When I focus my thoughts on the strengths, I would say Compilation of VII is better.
When I focus my thoughts on the weaknesses, I would say Ivalice Alliance is better.

Essentially, VII & Crisis Core were enjoyable games and VII is my favourite game of all time. On the flipside, Advent Children was (excluding the graphics) kind of rubbish and ruined some of my favourite characters. Before Crisis is something I'm unable to play and Dirge of Cerberus is something I've yet to play and have heard very mixed messages about from my friends, more negative than positive.

I've yet to play FFT (just bought it this weekend) or FFTA2. I've played FFTA and FFXII. I really liked both games but wouldn't put them on the same level as VII, although they do match Crisis Core.

If the games were comic book characters, Ivalice Alliance would be the original Uncanny X-Men (ie Cyclops, Angel, Beast, Iceman and Marvel Girl, all in their teens) and Compilation of VII would be Batman (VII), Alfred (Crisis Core), Robin (Advent Children), Batgirl (Dirge of Cerberus) and some other character who is in the wrong country and therefore can't get involved. Batman is incredible, Alfred is cool, Robin and Batgirl are meh and the other one is irrelevant. Meanwhile, the X-Men are pretty much always great. I'd back Batman to take on an individual X-Man, but even with Alfred's guidance, Robin and Batgirl just don't cut the mustard and as a group they'd probably lose to the fantastic teamwork of the X-Men.

[Fynn]

on the contrary IA did retcon some things, like for instance the existance of the Banga & Viera... in the original FFT and Vagrant Story there were never any races other than human, that i can remember, until FFTA...

From what I remember, the existence of other races in the distant past of Ivalive was alluded to in Tactics. Thus, this is not a retcon.

[Wolf Kanno]

Not helped that in the Ivalice Timeline, FFTA2/FFXII/RW all take place close to a thousand years before FFT and VS. Both histories separated by the the Cataclysm mentioned in FFT's Discoveries. So that's plenty of time to wipe out a few races, especially since XII alludes to Humes being the largest and most dominate race. Hell, by VS time, magic itself is a rarity since the plot pretty much involves a group of powers fighting over one of the last great magical relics of history.